


A Year In The Life

by astrangerenters



Category: Arashi (Band), Japanese Actor RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/M, Friendship, Getting Together, Humor, Present Tense, Romantic Comedy, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-20 02:22:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 26,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1493146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrangerenters/pseuds/astrangerenters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>It's been ages since Nino has felt this comfortable, this relaxed, and he realizes for the first time how glad he is for having moved here.</i> Scenes from a year in Nino's life as he moves into the four-bedroom apartment over the dental office and makes some new friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mauve Pink

**Author's Note:**

  * For [toinkydoink](https://archiveofourown.org/users/toinkydoink/gifts).



> A roommates/new apartment neighbors AU! This is mostly a slice-of-life story about nothing. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

**Mauve Pink**

Commuting from Setagaya to Funabashi has maybe taken three years from his life, Nino thinks. So it almost seems like a miracle when Subaru comes home from his late shift one day and says he's moving out when the lease is up the next month. Nino can't afford the place on his own, so he decides that he and Subaru will part company and part with the apartment at the same time. 

A month is rather short notice, especially in winter, so Nino turns to his limited circle of trustworthy friends and acquaintances, firing out a desperate request for lodgings in a certain monthly price range and closer to the warehouse than a Setagaya commute. It's his high school senpai Ohno who finally replies, only after Nino sees him at one of Subaru's gigs. "I changed my phone number," Ohno says without apology, eyes heavy-lidded from a beer too many. "I know someone though."

Ohno's a soft-spoken person and no noisy rock band on stage fifty feet away is going to change that. Nino, exasperated, finally gets his friend to write down the details on a cocktail napkin. It's not far from Ohno's job in Edogawa, and Nino would be sharing a place with Ohno's co-worker from the ENEOS station. It isn't until the next day when he calls the number that he learns that Ohno's co-worker from the ENEOS station is female.

"It's a four-bedroom set-up," the woman, Kanjiya-san, informs him in a voice that reveals nothing about what she might look like. "There's only two of us right now, we lost our third a few weeks ago. So with you, we split rent three ways. Can you come by tomorrow to meet both of us?"

Nino clocks out at 8:00 PM, and instead of an hour and a half it only takes 35 minutes to get to Kasai Station in Edogawa. From there it's not even a ten minute walk with his tired feet to the place, an older building just off a main road. "Look for the vending machines," Kanjiya-san had said, one of the more idiotic directions a person in Tokyo could give. But she's right - when he turns the corner, he discovers the building is next to a bank of at least ten brightly-lit vending machines. It's a narrow brown structure, aging stone. The ground floor is a dental office, and the apartment apparently takes up the entire second floor.

There's a door next to the dental office's main door leading to an entryway with a tiny checkerboard tile floor. Behind another door with a glass middle, an orange-carpeted staircase leads up to the apartment. There are mailboxes for four in the little entryway - only two names are currently filled in, handwritten. "Aiba" reads the one on the far left and "Kanjiya" beside it. He presses the buzzer keeping the inside door locked and is granted entry in seconds.

The carpet does a good job muffling his footsteps, and there's a heavy-looking wooden door at the top. It opens just as he raises his hand to knock. 

"Don't let the cat out!" comes a female voice from somewhere inside.

The man at the door rolls his eyes, holding the door wide. "You must be Ninomiya-san."

He slips out of his shoes and heavy coat and follows the man down the short hall to the large living room where a massive flat-screen TV is currently set on mute. Despite the narrow stairway, they've managed to cram a decently sized, if hideous lime green sofa into the room. The chocolate brown throw pillows don't help either. The place gives off a college dormitory feel - no artwork on the walls, but a selection of posters (X Japan on one wall, L'Arc-en-Ciel on another). IKEA bookshelves, IKEA TV stand, IKEA lamps. Nino, however, doesn't much mind. He lives similarly. The important thing is that the place is very clean, save for a tuft or two of white cat hair in a few spots on the couch and rug.

The man from the door encourages Nino to have a seat in an unmatching, overstuffed black leather armchair. He's Aiba Masaki, he explains, and he's thirty-one. "Don't let the cat out!" emerges from a kitchen just beyond the couch. Even in the dark he can see the windows above the sink and countertops are the ones that look out onto the street. She's got a tray with three mugs on it. Once again, nothing matches. The entire place is a jumble of furniture and items acquired with no seeming forethought.

He pictured someone a little older on the phone, but Kanjiya Shihori is of an age with him and Aiba-san, maybe a little younger. She doesn't volunteer her age, only handing over a mug of black tea, the label and string flapping as she gives it to him. The mug advertises Meiji University in dark purple characters.

She sets the empty tray down on the coffee table and curls up on the couch with her legs under her. The occupants of the Edogawa apartment have gone to no trouble to look nice for him. Aiba-san is in a t-shirt and sweatpants, Kanjiya-san in a hooded sweatshirt and plaid pajama pants. They both have friendlier expressions than Nino is used to in a roommate since Subaru is perpetually sulky if it's any time the sun is still up, rock star that he wishes to be. Aiba-san has an odd, scratchy kind of voice, short brown hair, and a relaxed, cheerful smile. Kanjiya-san has blunt black fringe that reaches her eyebrows and a round face. She's short and a little curvy where Aiba is skinny and all limbs. There's a shrewdness in her face that Aiba-san seems to lack. Nino knows who's in charge here.

"Ninomiya-san, do you have any references?" Aiba asks, dipping the tea packet up and down inside his mug.

"Idiot," Kanjiya chides him, sighing what sounds like a long-suffering sigh. "Oh-chan sent him here."

Aiba ignores her rebuke, his eyes nearly sparkling in the IKEA-lamp glow that warms up the room. "Are you a serial killer? I can't share living space with a serial killer. Any psychotic tendencies?"

"No," Nino says uncomfortably, and this earns Aiba a good smack in the arm from Kanjiya. He nearly spills his tea.

"Ow," Aiba protests. "I think it's a valid question."

Kanjiya takes charge of the interview from there. She gives a concise rundown of the current situation. At one time they were four - Aiba and Kanjiya as well as a Keiko-san and a guy called "Yoko." Yoko has been gone for six months, having moved back home to Osaka for a new job. He took all of his belongings except the cat, Kenji, a stray he'd found near the river. Keiko-san has only been gone for two weeks, but no matter how many residents the apartment has, the rent is the same. 

"The more bodies in the building, the less we pay," Aiba supplies helpfully.

Kanjiya moves on efficiently, trying to suss out their compatibility. It emerges that the jokey, cheerful Aiba is a flight attendant for Japan Airlines. He's based out of Narita and is usually scheduled to Los Angeles or San Francisco. He works a three days on, three days off schedule, and half of the month he's not even in the apartment. It seems to explain a lot about the impermanent feeling of the furniture. As Nino already knows, Kanjiya works at the ENEOS gas station with Ohno, daytime shift. When she seems to pause for Nino to weigh in on her choice of job, he says nothing, offers no judgment. This seems to please her because he can see her shoulders visibly relax.

They turn to Nino next, inquisitive. "I'm a warehouse associate," he explains. "For Rakuten. There's a warehouse in Funabashi, I scan things, put them in a bin, and put the bins on a conveyor belt. I work four days a week, off three, 10-8."

"What's the weirdest thing you've seen someone order?"

Kanjiya moves to give Aiba another smack for derailing the interview, but Nino holds up his hand benevolently. People are fond of this question in regards to his boring, exhausting job. "The weirdest thing I've ever seen someone order, at least on the same order, was a double-sided dildo, mauve pink, along with a humidifier and organic dog treats."

"You handle dildos on the regular?" Aiba asks, curious and without shame. Nino decides, finally, that he likes Aiba Masaki and will probably get along with him. 

Nino shrugs. "Everything's got a bar code. I just fill the order."

When he turns to Kanjiya, he expects to see a girlish blush or an eyebrow furrow of impatience. Instead she's grinning, reaching into the front pocket of her sweatshirt to pull out a slip of paper. She hands it to him, eyes brimming with hope. "With three people, this would be your contribution to the rent every month. If we can get a fourth person, your contribution will obviously drop."

He discovers that he'll only save about 4500 yen a month by rooming here, but the time saved on his commute will be worth it. "Can I have a tour before I answer?"

"Of course!" Aiba says, settling his mug on the coffee table. He watches out of the corner of his eye as Kanjiya snatches the mug up and settles it on her tray before it leaves a ring. He'll have to watch out for her when it comes to washing dishes and keeping the shared spaces tidy. He's grown rather slovenly with only another male for company the past two years.

The kitchen is first. There's a little bit of street noise, but he'd hardly heard it in the living room. The sink has only a cereal bowl and spoon waiting to be cleaned, a decent sign. There's also a wooden table and four matching chairs, one of the only instances of matching he's witnessed so far. Kanjiya's socked feet scuff along the linoleum behind him as Aiba leads the way.

They move from the kitchen back through the wide, large living room. Past the living room, a corridor with three doors on the left and three on the right take up the back half of the floor. The bedrooms are a little small, room for a single bed or futon, maybe a double bed if pushed against the wall, and a dresser. On the left, Aiba has the door in the middle, and the first is unoccupied. The door at the end leads to a small laundry room, a washing machine and drying area as well as a sliding door and covered balcony to hang things up outside. There's no view from the balcony, only the brick wall of the building behind them. The first two doors on the right are also bedrooms. Kanjiya's is first, the middle door unoccupied. A black and white cat with a small head but impressive tummy girth walks the corridor with the confidence of a long-term resident, heading to the open door at the end on the right. 

It's a large bathroom, the shower and tub area home to four cubby holes bolted to the wall, two occupied that contain shampoo and soap pump bottles. There's a toilet room on the other side of the tub wall, and a windowsill inside it is stacked with what Nino discovers are out-of-date Japan Airlines in-flight magazines. He smiles at that, turning to see a fairly clean sink area with only a hair dryer resting out on the countertop. Under one of the counters, the wooden door has been taken off the hinges and the drawers removed. Nestled inside is a cat box with a top and a swinging plastic door for chubby little Kenji. The cat, not bothered by a stranger's presence, proceeds to go through the flap to do his business.

"On that note, the tour is concluded," Aiba announces, and they head back to the living room. 

By 9:30 PM, Nino is handed a key and told to move in any time.


	2. Kenji

**Kenji**

He's taken the first room on the left, across from Kanjiya and next to Aiba. He feels this was the best option, not having to share a wall with a woman when there was a male available. He gets the feeling that this was Kanjiya's expectation for him anyhow.

Aiba is in San Francisco the week he moves in, so it's just the two of them and the cat as Nino adjusts to his new quarters and new roommate. Their schedules are easy to work with. Nino works Tuesday through Friday, and Kanjiya is on a Tuesday through Saturday schedule, 8 in the morning until 4. She showers or bathes in the evening, he does so when she leaves in the morning for work and he has the place to himself. On his first Sunday, their shared weekend, he catches her peering into his room from the doorway.

Her eyes seem impressed by the way he's got his systems arranged inside his gaming cabinet, Playstation 4 all the way back in time to the Famicom, an organized chaos of cords and controllers, his various discs and cartridges hidden away in a faux-leather zipped binder. He doesn't look up from Mario 3. "You want to play?"

"I was just thinking," she replies hesitantly, but not apologetically. He hears the door creak open a bit wider. "Aiba-san has that huge TV in the main room. You could always hook up in there, take advantage of it."

He's sitting cross-legged on the bed, laptop open and torrenting some movie beside him. "It's Aiba-san's TV."

"He likes to share," she says, fingernails tapping on the wood doorframe. "He'd probably be happy to know someone's using it when he's not."

Finally he presses pause and looks up. Her hair's piled up in some messy bun on top of her head, and she's holding a steaming mug advertising Alcatraz Island. "What about you? Don't you want to use the TV? You've been here longer, shouldn't you have privileges first?"

She grins. "Is that Super Mario 3?"

Within an hour, they've moved his entire gaming cabinet, cords and controllers and all, into the living room. Surprisingly it fits in well along the wall beside the enormous TV. The distance from the couch to the screen is actually perfect and much better on his back than sitting hunched over on his mattress. He's not a flexible kid anymore. This will also free up a lot of space in his bedroom, and maybe this is the reason she suggested it in the first place.

He rudely sits in the middle of the couch, but Kanjiya doesn't complain and relaxes in the leather armchair, sitting sideways with her legs flung over the arm of it so she can watch the TV. She chuckles noisily whenever Mario falls to his death, Nino still adjusting to the incredible screen size. Eventually he gets lost in it, advancing with fewer and fewer Mario deaths as the afternoon goes on. Kanjiya gets up a few times to get more coffee, another manga to page through while she's in the chair. Nino is surprised when she goes out of her way, behind the couch, so she doesn't cross in front of the screen while he's playing.

He eventually notices warmth at his side. Without really realizing it, the cat has taken up beside him, curled up in a fetal ball with its back against Nino's thigh. He scritches it behind the ear and goes back to his game. "Kenji usually takes the middle cushion by force," Kanjiya informs him. "But he seems to like you."

"He was the other guy's cat, right?" Nino grew up with dogs, is used to slobber and barks, not ninja-style approaches.

She nods.

"But he left it here."

She sighs. "Well, Keiko fell for him. She's a crazy cat lady. The type that when she's 65 she'll move off to an island by herself and just have a whole army of them. The type that creates a 'voice' for the cat and then has a full conversation with it about catnip. So we thought when she moved out that she'd take Kenji."

"But she didn't." Nino hasn't heard much about the previous tenant, but he's gathered so far that she and Kanjiya are close friends.

Kanjiya shakes her head. "Our cat expert decided it would be mean to uproot Kenji from his home when she moved, that it would give him psychological trauma. So he's still here. She already has a new cat at her new place."

Nino grins, bumping Mario's head against a large grouping of blocks. The cat beside him starts to snore. "Do you like cats, Kanjiya-san?"

She nods. "Kenji's okay with me. He doesn't howl or spray. He's fixed too, so he's not going to show up with a wife and kids someday. That would be a different story."

The cat has a bowl of dry food to munch on all day in the kitchen and gets a can of wet food at night when Kanjiya comes home from work. It pains him to ask these types of things, but with the cat curled up beside him, he feels it would be rude not to inquire. "Do you need me to chip in for his care?"

Kanjiya laughs. "Keiko orders cat food and litter online. Really fancy stuff too, no fillers. It's delivered here every month."

"For a cat that wasn't originally hers and even now that she's gone?"

"That cat eats better than a lot of people, you know."

Eventually the cat abandons him, toddling off down the hall to scratch around in his cat box. Kanjiya follows him a short time later. When she returns, she heads to do dishes. He hears her call from the kitchen.

"You don't have to pay for anything, but if you want to scoop the poop once in a while, you'll feel like part of the family."

He smiles at that, hopping over some lava. When he goes to bed that night, three hours after Kanjiya closes her own bedroom door, he hears a scratch scratch scratch. He opens the door and Kenji shoves his way inside. Nino sighs. He hasn't even had to scoop once and already the cat has adopted him. It curls up at his feet, and Nino sleeps easily.


	3. Onion King

**Onion King**

Kanjiya is dancing in the living room with a food bag when Nino returns from work, wanting to lie down on the floor and pass out. "What's the occasion?" he asks, settling for the chair.

She doesn't stop dancing, twirling around the room. She's got on a skirt that reaches her ankles and it swirls around, a flurry of floral-patterned color. "Onion King!" she announces in English.

The toilet flushes, and suddenly Nino remembers that Aiba is home, probably got in that afternoon. "Hey Nino!" he says, having already bypassed "Ninomiya-san" and "Ninomiya-kun." Nino doesn't mind.

"What's she dancing for?"

"Onion King!" Kanjiya repeats, shaking the bag again. "Onion King!"

"Has she lost her mind?"

Aiba settles on the couch, and they both watch her dance. She changes from twirling to some ballerina-style leaps, poorly executed. With the dental office closed downstairs, they can really stomp around all they want after hours. Finally Aiba reaches for the TV remote and changes from the music video Kanjiya was watching to some show with comedians. It doesn't deter the celebration.

"Onion King," Aiba explains. "They're potato chips, made in America. I always bring them back for her. She's addicted. It's gotten serious, I feel like a drug dealer."

"They're the best," she says, finally stopping her noisy leaps. The bag arcs through the air, lands on Nino's belly. There's a giant ONION KING label in bold, black English lettering. Beneath is an anthropomorphic onion with a crown on its head and a creepy smile.

"Can I have one?"

"One chip or one bag?" she asks suspiciously, fingers itching to take it back.

"Whatever you're offering."

She pushes past Aiba to perch at the edge of the couch, within chip-snatching distance of her bag and Nino's place in the chair. "Please try them," she says.

He adjusts in the chair to avoid spilling them all over himself. He's not eager to learn how she'd react if such a thing happened. The scent of fake onion dominates the room once he's got the bag open. These things are not messing around. Surely Japan has an equivalent of these this, he decides when he pulls one out. Is it really worth bringing across the ocean? It's oval, rippled, dotted with little green specks and powdery onion dust. It's about the worst thing he's ever put in his mouth, and he gently holds out the bag so she can have her nasty snacks back.

There's a look of triumph in her eyes as she takes it, curling up on the couch and settling in. She seems extremely pleased that neither of her roommates is an Onion King threat. 

"How many of those does he bring you?" Nino asks, ready to fall asleep then and there. He'd retrieved and scanned 105% of his quota that day, walking twelve miles. Now his readiness for sleep is being agitated by the onion stink in his mouth.

She looks over at Aiba with love in her eyes. "How many, huh?"

Aiba shakes his head, chuckling. "They come in 300 gram bags like that. They were on sale, so I brought 10."

"Ten bags of potato chips?" Nino exclaims. "Is there a customs charge?"

Kanjiya crunches down on a clump of them. "Delicious!"

"No," Aiba says. "Flight crew can bring along almost anything, although they make fun of me like crazy. My usual captain even knows about it, calls me Onion Guy."

Kanjiya smiles, little green specks on her teeth already. "Aiba-san is the best ever!"

Aiba soaks in the appreciation, lacing his fingers behind his head, feet up on the coffee table. "It's that smile that makes it all worth it. Although the breath is like something died..."

Aiba gets a punch in the arm for that comment, and Nino rolls his eyes. He hopes Kanjiya's got some breath mints to chase the chips with. "And what do you do in return for Aiba-san and his generosity? He gets called names all for you."

Kanjiya narrows her eyes. "I don't do sexual favors for potato chips."

Nino gasps, not realizing his question could have been taken that way. But it only makes Aiba and Kanjiya laugh again, and he understands he's caused no offense. He's known from the first day they met that Aiba and Kanjiya don't have that kind of arrangement. But at least now he's got confirmation. Not that it would matter to him if they were sleeping together. Why would it? They've been in close quarters a long time. Secretly, though, Nino is pleased to hear it. Living together with the opposite sex can always lead to drama, and Nino leads a drama-free lifestyle. 

"I need a bath," Kanjiya announces. "Last call."

"Let me brush my teeth," Nino grumbles, hauling himself up. Kenji headbutts him while he stands at the bathroom sink, looking desperately for any green spots. He's got his mouth wide, checking his molars for any other offensive remnants, when Kanjiya knocks on the bathroom door.

"Are you brushing or unhinging your jaw like a snake?"

He gestures at her with the toothbrush while Kenji perches himself on the edge of the tub, tail swishing. "Those chips are disgusting."

She shrugs. "I won't breathe on you, don't get so weird."

"I apologize for implying that you reward Aiba-san with your body for them."

She shoos the cat from the tub and takes her shampoo and bath bubbles from her cubby, arranging them to her satisfaction. "He's very attractive. I wouldn't need to be compensated, I mean to say. But he's too noisy. Don't you think so?" If anything has grown stronger over the past few weeks, it's her willingness to be frank around him. He's never really been around a woman like her before.

"I don't have those kind of opinions about Aiba-san yet."

She smiles. "You've got toothpaste on your shirt. Too bad you have to leave."

He shudders at the thought of onion powder dust on her fingers as she pulls his toothbrush away, puts it in the holder, and pushes him out of the bathroom.


	4. Blue Hawaii

**Blue Hawaii**

There's a bar around the corner from the apartment, unpopular on account of how many bars there are closer to Kasai Station. Nino likes the place for this reason, though. They have no trouble getting the large semi-circle booth in the rear of the place underneath a vintage Kirin poster. He's between Aiba and Shihori, who is now Shihori after three weeks in the apartment. "You've seen my underwear hanging up on the balcony," she had said. "I think we can be on a first-name basis if you wish."

Aiba's at the end so he can easily get out, ordering a pitcher and five glasses from the bar. They're waiting for two more, Nino's first official introduction to Kitagawa Keiko, former roommate, crazy cat lady. He'd gotten an unofficial introduction when the order of food and litter for Kenji arrived the other day and Nino signed for it.

Keiko-san is bringing along her boyfriend, Sho, the reason for her moving out. It's a Saturday evening, and Shihori had spent the late afternoon in the apartment explaining to Nino all the reasons why Keiko left her and how such an act has been devastating beyond imagining.

"We were college roommates, and Keiko's not the type to need a guy. She was never, you know, militant about it, but it was always 'Shii-chan, we must rely on ourselves' and 'Shii-chan, it's all about what we want first,' and then what do you know, she moves out to live with a guy!" Shihori had grumbled, standing in front of the bathroom mirror putting on her mascara. Nino had been sitting on the tub, watching.

"Does she love him?"

"Well, yes of course," had been Shihori's response. "He's wonderful."

Nino had held in a laugh at that. Shihori is mostly sad to not have her best friend at her beck and call any longer. Keiko-san works in the marketing department for some big-name firm with offices near Shinjuku Station. Sakurai-san, the boyfriend, is an economics professor at Meiji, Keiko and Shihori's alma mater. They'd met through a mutual friend. They're both "huge nerds," Aiba has pointed out in anticipation of their meet-up that evening.

Shihori shimmies out the other end of the booth when the bar door opens and two obnoxiously attractive people enter. The type of people who'd have anime sparkles around them if they were, obviously, animated and not regular humans. Nerdy is not the impression Nino gets when a woman with wavy, dark hair and model-long legs approaches on the arm of a guy with a billion-yen smile and thick hair that makes Nino resent his receding hairline all the more. The only thing nerdy about Sakurai is his blazer with elbow patches, something that's such a professor stereotype Nino almost can't believe he's seeing it in real life.

"Hello, hello," Sakurai greets them, relinquishing hold of his girlfriend so she can more easily be dragged to the booth by Shihori. Sakurai lets the women settle in the middle and takes the end.

Keiko-san wiggles out of her coat, and Sakurai takes it to hang on the hook at the end of the booth without missing a beat. Disgustingly perfect. No wonder Shihori is envious. Aiba returns, more greetings all around the table, and starts to pour the beer. Shihori pats Nino on the shoulder.

"Kei-chan, our newest roommate. Ninomiya-san."

"Ninomiya Kazunari," Nino says, shaking Sho's outstretched hand, accepting a friendly wave from Keiko-san. "Nice to meet you."

Where Nino is initially embarrassed to be drinking with two extremely educated people, expecting them to smile and nod politely when they learn of his employment at the warehouse, he learns they're not snobby. Shihori is all too quick to relate the mauve pink dildo story, and Keiko ends up snorting into her beer in a very un-ladylike, rather Shihori-like fashion. It doesn't disturb her boyfriend at all, who merely hands her the handkerchief from his blazer pocket and finds Nino's job fascinating. For the next half-hour at least, Nino is the center of conversation, getting tag teamed by Sakurai and Aiba who want to learn more about the inner workings of Rakuten and the weird shit people on the Internet like to order.

Eventually chatter moves to Sakurai, who really is the nerd Aiba had promised and much more. He earned his bachelor's, master's, and PhD from Keio, bam bam bam, and had chosen to teach at Meiji only because he'd been in Keio's schools since kindergarten and wanted a change of pace. He's the advisor for the Meiji campus Quiz Bowl team when he's not lecturing, and apparently writes a foodie blog about ramen spots in Tokyo he has enjoyed. Sho blushes in embarrassment when Keiko pulls up one of these blog entries on her phone.

"I had to proofread this, you know," she says, a bracelet on her thin wrist jangling as she hands the phone over to Shihori. Nino scoots over, their thighs touching, so they can read it together. "It's 7200 words! About this hole in the wall place down by Gotanda."

"I like to be thorough in my assessments," Sakurai explains, sipping his beer and not liking the teasing one bit.

"'When visiting Blue Hawaii, one is instantly struck by the charming decor. A painting of Diamond Head on the wall greets you like a warm embrace'," Shihori reads, unable to hold in a chuckle. "A ramen shop called Blue Hawaii?"

"I'll have you know, Shihori-chan, that pineapple is an unexpectedly interesting topping for shoyu ramen," Sakurai continues in his own defense, but it only makes him look stranger and stranger. 

Nino is usually wary of meeting new people, especially when he is the outsider and knows the least about an existing circle of friends. But with Keiko-san and Sho-san he is able to relate, to laugh, to get along instantly. The anime sparkles of their entrance lessen as the night carries on, and they're just people the same as Aiba and Shihori, the same as Nino himself.

The five of them are thoroughly drunk before even 10 PM, a sign that they're not so young any longer. Keiko at 27 is the youngest, but even she is quick to turn pink in the face, her earlier calm giving way to noisy Kansai-ben, especially when Aiba chooses topics of conversation to rile her up. Nino can imagine the three of them in the living room of the apartment, laughing. It's no wonder Shihori misses her so much. Maybe it's the beer talking, but in that moment, Nino feels terrible for Shihori having to be without her, Shihori having to instead live with two weird men like himself and Aiba.

"I wanna see Kenji," Keiko insists loudly. "I wanna see him."

"You're going to be terrible on the train," Sho is complaining. "You're like an old man. I'm dating an old man."

"Then we'll go in a taxi!" Keiko says back, poking him in the chin. "If I'm so embarrassing."

Shihori is half-asleep when they do finally leave the booth. When they head out into the night and the chilly air, Nino turns to put an arm around her, to help her walk back to the apartment, but Aiba's there first, easily hoisting her onto his back like it's something he's done before. For an instant Nino is jealous, knowing that with his smaller frame and general lack of strength that he's useless at carrying girls. He finds himself trailing a bit behind on the walk back, Aiba carrying Shihori and Sho with his arm around Keiko, for the only time that evening feeling like a fifth wheel.

"Kenji!" Keiko shouts as soon as they're up the stairs, hurrying through the apartment. "Kenji, baby!"

Sho collapses into the leather chair like he's done this a hundred times before. Perhaps he has. Nino isn't sure how long he and Keiko have been together, but at least long enough that he's got Keiko proofreading his precious blog. Aiba sets Shihori down and she heads for the bathroom, announcing to everyone her plan to "pee until there's nothing left!"

Nino stumbles his way to the kitchen, pulling together a sampling of the colorful mugs and filling them all with ice cold water from the filtered container in the fridge. In the time it takes to do this, Aiba has put on Nino's Nintendo 64 and is racing Sho in a game of Mario Kart. Keiko has retrieved the cat and is sitting beside Aiba on the couch with Kenji in her lap, looking the happiest she has all night. Nino can imagine her on that island Shihori had created, surrounded by a flock of devoted felines.

He sits on Aiba's other side, criticizing Sho's usage of banana peels on the Mario Kart racetrack. Sho grumbles back at him unintelligibly, not sounding very professorial. Shihori finally returns from the bathroom and sits down between Nino and Aiba, even though there's barely room. She's warm and soft, the feeling of her beside him, and he tries to scoot against the arm of the couch to give her room to be comfortable. She's in a happy daze, surrounded by friends, and she sips the water from her Alcatraz mug with a smile on her face.

It's been ages since Nino has felt this comfortable, this relaxed, and he realizes for the first time how glad he is for having moved here.


	5. Mondays with Shihori

**Mondays with Shihori**

It's a Monday, the day that makes Nino happy and sad all at once. Happy because he's home, can sleep in, can walk around in the same clothes he wore the previous day without much judgment. But sad because the next day he's back at work, surrounded by equally exhausted people, everyone struggling to make nearly impossible quotas. 

There are worse jobs at the Rakuten warehouse, Nino is very aware of it. He has acquaintances who work the packing line, fitting the strange items Nino culls together from the shelves into boxes. Over and over, packing and closing and taping. In that job Nino would have to be on his feet at the line the entire time. At first he had thought it would be better, but at least his current job lets him move around. He's never been much for moving or exercise or going out of his way, but running around the warehouse, scanning and bending and sticking things in bins is not as tedious as standing stock still and packing boxes. 

He's always tired from four days in a row of doing it, but he's technically in the best shape he's been in a long time. After high school he'd worked at an arcade and then several years for Yamato driving the airport route and wearing that ugly green uniform, bringing luggage from Haneda to people's homes or hotels. Rakuten pays better, probably because it's a 10-hour workday and most people drop out after a few weeks, unable to handle it. But Nino's been a gamer so long he sometimes turns his job into a game, hurrying to retrieve some rare item from a far off treasure chest in the rear of the warehouse.

So he gets through the tedium and actually has calf muscles now and the smallest potbelly he's had since high school, but Mondays are still happy and sad. But now at least he has Mondays with Shihori, and it's better than Mondays alone. It surprises Nino when he reaches that conclusion. Though he's spent the years since high school living with a sampling of roommates both obnoxious and not, he's always preferred to be alone. He used to treasure the time when his roommate would head off to work, leave him alone with his games or other hobbies like watching porn. Nino has always preferred his own company, but Kanjiya Shihori is so off the wall odd sometimes that he feels a bit restless without her around.

This Monday finds Nino slurping cup ramen, of course a brand that Sakurai Sho claims is the best that's sold in stores (although ramen in a restaurant will always be superior, et cetera, et cetera). It's the middle of the day when all the most horrible soap operas grace the television screens, and he wonders how housewives and shut-ins can get through every day with such poor entertainment options. Right now someone is pregnant after an affair with her best friend's husband, and the husband is threatening suicide for reasons Nino cannot even fathom. He slurps his noodles peacefully, happy for his own life and circumstances, when he hears a panicked shout from the bathroom.

"Nino!"

"I changed the toilet paper roll this morning," he shouts back, slurping a bit of broth from the cup.

"Nino!" she calls again. "Nino!"

He rolls his eyes, setting the cup down on one of the coasters ("Japan Airlines Signature Service") before heading to the bathroom. The exterior door is closed and he knocks. "Are you dying?"

"Come in, would you?"

He makes a face at the closed door. "Huh?"

"Just come in. Please, this is bad enough for me."

Slowly he turns the knob and enters. The inside toilet door is closed, and her voice is coming from in there. Her voice carrying all the way through two barriers to the living room to call for him lets him know how desperate she really must be. "Did you fall in? Because if so, I'm getting my phone and taking a photo for blackmail purposes."

"You're so mean to me, why do I let you live here?"

He waits outside the door, shifting from foot to foot. "I promise, I don't have my phone. What do you need?"

He hears her sigh, obviously gathering courage for what she's about to explain to him. It must be bad, whatever it is. "I got my period early," she informs him quietly.

She's better off than the woman in the soap opera on TV, he almost tells her. Instead he waits for the rest of it. Nino would happily go the rest of his life without knowing any details about the female menstrual cycle, but he supposes this is his punishment for living with a woman who isn't embarrassed to overshare. His older sister had been the same way growing up, but mostly just to annoy him and to be shocking.

"I was planning to go to the store today and stock up, but I haven't gone yet."

"So you don't have...anything then? For that issue?"

"No," she admits. "This is my failing as a human being. And a female human being at that. I would, um, I would improvise but I am currently wearing my favorite pair of underwear, and it's...well, not that you have any sense for these things, but it's pretty bad and I can't risk it."

"Are you asking me to go and get you another pair of underwear so you can carry out your, uh, improvising?"

"Initially that was the plan," she tells him, and he's trying not to imagine her sitting on the toilet. They are not that close of friends yet. "But I'd rather you not go in that drawer."

He has to hide his embarrassed laugh in the crook of his elbow. This is getting worse and worse and yet she's trusting him enough to tell him. "Kanjiya-san, I'm not going to steal your underwear."

"It's not...it's not that, um..."

He has to close his eyes now, cover his mouth with his hand and try not to let her hear him laughing at her. She doesn't want him to see her personal items, her personal _sex-related_ items, and he does feel bad for her. "How can I help?" he interrupts, just so she doesn't have to actually say the words "I don't want you to get my underwear because I don't want you to see my vibrator" out loud.

"Can you go to the store and buy me some pads?"

Somehow this request is less embarrassing than letting Nino rummage through her panty drawer. "Seriously?"

"Nino, I wouldn't ask you if I didn't really need to. Please? The smallest pack they have, please? I swear that I will make it up to you. If you need condoms or hemorrhoid cream or something, I will buy you anything. I promise. Just please do this for me? I am in my hour of need! Please Nino, please?!"

He sighs. He's never living with a woman, never again! Never! He's pulled this kind of stuff for work before, big huge jumbo cases of pads, but that's way different than this. "What do they look like, the brand you use?"

"Well, it's a pink package. The brand is called Sofy."

"Alright."

She lets out a squeal of joy that sends him running from the room. He grabs his jacket, wallet, and keys and is out the door. This is just another mission, he has to tell himself. Your princess is in another castle, he thinks. Your maxi pads are in another place. The convenience store around the corner, a place Nino considered safe until this moment, will now have him on tape buying feminine items. He will probably need to shop elsewhere until the end of time or until he moves out of Edogawa, whichever happens first.

He heads for the rear of the store, the health and wellness aisle, bypassing condom boxes and aspirin and foot cream. He finds packages in every color of the rainbow. Despite the size of the store, there's no shortage of choices. He has a keen eye for locating things on shelves on account of his job, so he's able to find Shihori's brand with little trouble. He takes a deep breath and yanks the package from the shelf, heading straight for the register. No detours to the magazines or milk bread allowed on this mission. He pretends he's in Metal Gear Solid, that he needs to get to the end of the level without mistakes or getting caught.

Thankfully there isn't a line, and the clerk is a middle-aged woman. Nino thinks this is the best case scenario for clerks. A younger woman would think he's a pervert, a man would think he's a sucker, but a middle-aged woman...

She scans the package and has it dumped in a black plastic bag in seconds, removing it from sight before Nino can even open his wallet. Perhaps she knows, perhaps she understands the desperate embarrassment in Nino's eyes. "325 yen," she says, face revealing nothing.

He pays and now that he has the black bag, he's in the clear. But knowing Shihori's still waiting for him patiently in the bathroom, he makes an effort, taking the apartment stairs two at a time.

"I'm leaving them outside the door," he says when he reenters the room, setting the bag down.

He hears only a shouted "thank you" by the time he's back in the safety of the living room, his ramen gone completely cold. Nino wonders if Shihori would have asked the same thing of Aiba. She probably would have, honest and open person that she is. Nino just happened to be her only option at the time.

He hears the bathroom door open, keeps his eyes focused on the TV as Shihori quickly shuffles to her room and closes the door. When she emerges a few moments later, her face is calm, relaxed. Not the slightest indication about the suffering she's endured that afternoon, the depths to which she sunk in order to save her favorite pair of panties.

Nino freezes when she climbs onto the couch beside him, wrapping her arms around him tight. It's a turning point, he knows, a significant event. He doesn't know if she wants to be hugged back, so he just lets her hold onto him for a few seconds, smelling her sweet, cheerful perfume. Maybe this is the warm feeling Aiba gets when he comes home with a case of Onion King chips. The satisfaction of having made Shihori smile, the willingness to go above and beyond simply to make her happy.

And then she's gone, releasing him and heading for her purse and shoes. "I'm going to the store, back later!"

Nino watches the door close behind her, wondering if his drama-free life will remain that way for much longer.


	6. Super Jumbo Tortillas

**Super Jumbo Tortillas**

With so many trips to Southern California, Aiba has developed a taste for Mexican food. Enchiladas, tostadas, fajitas. Aiba comes home daydreaming about hot sauce and green sauce and the life-changing experience of homemade tamales from a friend of his friend who works in baggage claim at LAX. On his off-days, his scarce days when he's actually the third person in the apartment, he sits in the living room and whines about tamales. It's a similar whine to one Shihori gets when her Onion King bags diminish and Aiba's still in California. Between the two of them and Sho's ramen blog, Nino has found himself surrounded by people with disturbing food obsessions.

"Well then why don't you just buy a tamale?" Shihori finally complains one morning, the two of them sitting on the couch with bowls of some sugary American cereal, the milk in their bowls turned a disturbing purple color that Nino can't readily identify.

"Well maybe I will."

"Then go."

"I will," Aiba insists, not budging from his spot on the couch.

"I'm sick of hearing about it," Shihori says, a total hypocrite, as Nino emerges from the kitchen with a piece of buttered toast and a bad case of bed hair. "Aren't you sick of it, Nino?"

"I don't take sides, I'm smarter than that," he replies, flopping down in the chair.

"Listen to him," Aiba says with a scowl. "Looking down on us."

"Seriously," Shihori chimes in, suddenly losing interest in arguing with Aiba now that Nino has made his true opinions known. 

Shihori and Aiba tend to engage in the dumbest arguments Nino has ever heard of, simply to argue. Apparently Keiko had served as peacemaker in these situations, a role Nino is unwilling to take on. Now most mornings that Aiba is home, Nino emerges from his room to find them arguing about the name of a movie they'd both seen, even though they could look it up online in seconds. Or sometimes they're arguing about whose toothpaste is superior at brightening their smile or which animal is cuter, sloths or koalas. They're both terrible at building a compelling, logical argument and most fights simply end in childish name calling ("Airhead!" "Onion breath!"). Nino nibbles his toast and ignores them most of the time.

"Find a Mexican restaurant. Ask Sho-kun, I'm sure he'd be thrilled to research it for you," Nino suggests, the most effort he's willing to put into their conversation.

"Or you could make your own," Shihori decides. "Then you can have it any time."

It's not until mid-afternoon that Aiba puts on jeans and runs a comb through his messy hair. When he's leaving for the airport, he's always perfect and gleaming, kind of like a doll. When he's off, he's intentionally off. He takes a look at both of them, Shihori and Nino and a fierce Mario Kart battle. 

"I'm going to go buy some tortillas," he announces to the room, hands on his hips. Tortillas? So much for tamales. Aiba's declaration hangs in the air for a few seconds, the game music and sound effects providing a sad bit of punctuation. "Does anybody want anything?"

"A pony," Shihori says, turning her controller as if it'll make Yoshi go around the curve better.

"World peace," Nino chimes in.

"Tortillas then," Aiba says to himself, using that tone of voice he takes on when he's pretending they said something nice to him instead. "I'll be back later."

Aiba has a four-door hatchback in a parking structure two blocks away, which he'll need because the import store is across town. Sometimes it amazes Nino that Aiba has these things. He's not in the country half the year and yet he has a giant television he never gets to watch and a car he pays out the ass to store somewhere that he hardly ever drives. Flight attendants must make plenty to support such needless excess. Then again, Nino's the type of person who would buy single-ply toilet paper if he was put in charge of apartment shared necessities, but Shihori has appointed herself permanently in charge of such things.

When Aiba returns an hour later, he and Shihori are amazed at the massive bag he hauls in. They pause the game by mutual mental agreement and follow him into the kitchen where he sets the bag down on the table, pulling out a "SUPER JUMBO" pack of flour tortillas, 100 count.

"Masaki," Shihori says, tending only to whip out first names when Aiba has gone above and beyond normal levels of stupidity. "What have you done?"

The only other things he's gotten from the store is a massive brick of cheese labeled "Super Spice" and some hot sauce. He takes them from the bag and settles the cheese in the fridge. "The store only had fresh tortillas in these big packs. Like, they had these taco kits with the crunchy shells, but I don't care much for those. I think we can finish these."

"You leave for California in two days. How are you going to finish 100 tortillas in two days?" Shihori continues, astonished.

Aiba pauses, hand still clasped around his precious bottle of hot sauce. It is clear in that moment that their friend has at last remembered that he is a flight attendant who travels across the Pacific on a weekly basis. "Ah, that's true," is all he says.

Later that night there are six of them gathered around the coffee table in the living room. Aiba disappears into the kitchen every few minutes to shred more cheese and fry up the quesadillas in the skillet. Sho and Keiko don't appear to be that pleased to have taken the train across the city to eat greasy Mexican food made by Chef Aiba, although Ohno just looks thrilled to get a free meal. It's been a while since Nino's seen his senpai, who has already gone through six quesadillas.

"What else goes good with tortillas?" Shihori asks the room, prying her quesadilla into oozy, greasy pieces with her fingers. "Because once that idiot leaves, Nino and I will have to finish these before they go bad."

"I could eat them plain," Ohno admits, sitting cross-legged with Kenji in his lap. The cat turned his nose up at the quesadilla, but still insists on being present for the meal.

"Wrap a hot dog in it," Keiko suggests, although she looks just as repulsed as everyone else does when she says it.

"I'd eat that too," Ohno says, shrugging. "Melt some cheese on it." 

Aiba returns with another plate of quesadillas, and everyone starts looking a bit queasy. "Why can't Oh-chan just take the damn tortillas with him when he leaves?" Shihori snits.

"There's like 70 left though," Aiba complains. "I'm not giving him 70 tortillas."

"That's fine, I have food at home," Ohno says with yet another shrug. Nothing ever seems to bother him, and Nino doubts that anything ever will.

"You could split them, give him half," Nino says, taking the hot sauce bottle and dumping some on Sho's quesadilla without asking. Sho shoots him a dirty look but eats it anyway. Nino has discovered that once there's food on his plate, Sho will eat it so as not to appear wasteful. Nino wonders if it's mean to try and fatten him up, just so he isn't the handsomest fellow in the room.

Aiba considers this but makes no promises. "We'll see how we feel later."

Eventually Keiko demands that Sho has to stop eating because he's already gotten ahead of Ohno in tortilla consumption. The final tally is Shihori five, Keiko four, Nino four, Aiba seven, Ohno nine, and Sho an even ten. The remaining sixty-one tortillas, fresher now than they'll ever be again, loom menacingly on the kitchen counter, and Nino would be thrilled to never eat Mexican food again.

"Before you even ask," Keiko says, leaning her head against her boyfriend's shoulder in a cheese-filled stupor, "we are not taking any of that home. I refuse."

"But they're good, aren't they?" Aiba says, sipping his beer. Everyone reluctantly agrees that they were pretty good. This is all Aiba needs to hear, some form of validation that his purchase was not an entirely stupid one, even though it clearly was.

A few days later Shihori comes home from work to inform Nino that on his way to Narita that morning, Aiba stopped by the gas station to give Ohno the package of sixty-one tortillas, most of them halfway stale already. Ohno thanked Aiba for the gift by bowing to him and saying "Hola," which apparently means "Hello" in Spanish.


	7. Windbreaker

**Windbreaker**

Because the smell of gasoline and engine oil clings to them so heavily, Shihori does not change into her work clothes until she arrives at the ENEOS station. There's a small locker room they all share, and since Shihori is the only female on the crew, she gets the luxury of changing in the bathroom and not having to look at the bare bodies of her male colleagues. 

Nino has only seen the component parts of Shihori's uniform as they hang to dry on the balcony on days she brings them home to wash. A slightly puffy green windbreaker, plain blue slacks, and a short-sleeved polo shirt that goes under the windbreaker except in the summer heat when the crew is allowed to go without jackets. Her look is apparently complete with a pair of thick-soled sneakers and a hat that matches her windbreaker. These things she keeps in her locker.

As the only female, she tells him one day when he gets curious, she gets to do the more superficial tasks. She describes full shifts where she does nothing more than smile and clean windows and windshields while her co-workers fill gas tanks, vacuum inside cars, pop the hood to check oil levels and refill wiper fluid. She usually only gets to step up to the more interesting tasks if someone on the crew is out sick. Sometimes she's allowed to wave customers into position, directing with stiff, precise "go ahead, keep going, keep going, stop" gestures.

Shihori's job has given her incredible cleaning speed. In the apartment she wipes down the kitchen counters, cleans the bathroom mirror, and dusts with an efficiency that would make most housewives cry in jealousy. Nino has attempted to assist her on more than one occasion (a whopping two) and been found inadequate. She has instead entrusted him with cleaning the toilet and sorting trash.

He usually walks the same way to Kasai Station every morning, but one day he gets the sudden compulsion to see her working. How many days has he seen the windbreaker, the slacks tumbling in the washing machine and not been curious? This time he walks the opposite direction, adding an extra three blocks onto his route so he passes the ENEOS station. There's a coffee shop across the street, and he's given himself a window of about 20 minutes to take it all in.

He sips his coffee and sits on a stool facing the window and the street, feet thumping rhythmically against the stool legs in anticipation of the ten miles of walking at the warehouse ahead of him that day. He has a clear view of the station, four full-service lanes, the gas pumps suspended from the ceiling on thick black hoses that look like strange snakes or jungle vines. 

Oh-chan is not visible, perhaps working the car wash queue around the side. A crew of three are working on a white Toyota in the third lane - one pumping gas, another vacuuming inside, and a third checking air in the tires while a bored looking housewife waits for them to finish. But finally a second car is ready to turn in off the street, and another waiting crew springs into action.

He knows her from her height and from being the only person that has a dark shock of hair sticking out the back of their hat in a ponytail. She's much smaller than her crew, two guys that absolutely dwarf her as she runs out with a cheerful look he can see even from across the street. Tall Guy number one is sent out to help the car navigate into the lane while the other presumably will pump the gas. It's Shihori, the Shihori he sees every day, who greets the customer and seems to be asking what type of service they'd like that morning.

It's the Shihori he sees every day, but not the one who sings about potato chips or shouts in alarm when a harmless spider crawls across her bedroom wall. She's in her uniform, which is unflattering and hides the shape of her body, the oversized windbreaker giving her the appearance of wearing a sack. He's never seen someone clean a windshield with the same level of enthusiasm before. The driver looks completely indifferent, but it doesn't dampen her smile or demeanor, and when he drives off, she and the other two members of the crew bow as the car departs. 

Then another car turns up and it starts all over again. He gets rid of his empty coffee cup and heads for the station and another long work day. He wonders exactly what he was hoping to see or learn by watching her. In the end it was just too voyeuristic and he feels bad for watching without her knowledge.

He mostly manages to forget all about it until he sees the windbreaker clothespinned up on the balcony maybe a week later when he's putting out his own clothes. It's one of their Mondays alone, and when he comes back from hanging his things to dry, he sits down on the couch and gets her attention with a poke to the shoulder. She wrinkles her nose, chewing on her thumb while she reads. 

"Mmm?" 

"Why do you work at the gas station? Of all the the jobs in the world, why that one?"

"Why did you become an Order Fulfillment Associate?" she asks without looking up from the manga page, turning the question back on him. "Of all the jobs in the world."

"The money," he replies instantly. "And only working four days. Consistent scheduling, no overtime except on the occasional holiday."

She turns to the next page before taking another nibble from the edge of her thumb. "I used to work in an office. I didn't like it."

"Too dull? Long hours?"

"There was a guy in sales, a salaryman, not a contract employee like many of us. His name was Shige, and he was the most conceited, self-involved man I've ever met. He was gorgeous though, so I overlooked the negatives." She tells Nino this without any change in tone, explaining it to him like she's reading a recipe. "I was more aggressive in those days and I made a move. We went out for a while, but it didn't really go anywhere. But because he was a catch, I guess I was resented for pursuing him. For not letting the other women have a crack at him."

"So then what happened?" he asks, feeling suddenly like he's done a horrible thing in asking about it.

"I was frozen out," she explains. "By the women. It was fine for a while, I bitched to Keiko every night and she threatened to go there and tear them all a new one. She's very assertive on other people's behalf. So I got through it with her support. I could handle being ignored in the break room, I could handle them intentionally making plans without me right in front of me. And even when Shige left the company and their original reason for disliking me vanished, I could handle them telling other guys in the company that I was a slut who wanted to sleep her way through the department."

"Shii-chan..."

"Because it had nothing to do with my work. I did my job well, I got good reviews, I was competent. I went almost a year with people whispering about me because I believed I was stronger and I was better, and because I knew I wasn't any of the things they said. And even if I was, so what? I was good at my job, why did it matter who I slept with? Then there was a manager I'd worked with often, someone I'd always gotten along with. And married, mind you. He tried it one night when it was just the two of us. I thought...I stupidly thought it was for work, you know. That he needed my help. Instead he expected me to..."

She closes her manga and takes an angry breath at the memory, shaking her head.

"He grabs my ass and says 'Oi Kanjiya, it has to be my turn by now, right?' A man with a picture of his two toddlers on his desk, a wife who visits the office to drop off snacks, and he's sad that I haven't blown him yet when surely I've given everyone else a go," she explains, seething. "It didn't even matter how good I was at the job. They kept me around because sooner or later, it would obviously be their turn."

Nino lets her sit there, breathing in and out, staring at some spot on the coffee table that he can't see. He's struck with a memory of the stupid Onion King chips, the night soon after he moved in when he asked how she repaid Aiba for bringing her the chips. How easily she'd said something like "I don't do sexual favors." The memory horrifies him. He wants to go back in time, slap himself for saying it, but he knows it's not the same thing. He had no idea.

"So that was it. I handed in my resignation the next morning. I saw a sign in the gas station window walking home from the train, and I went in to inquire. You'd think a macho place like that would be even more ridiculous, more full of that crap, but I'm on the team. I'm crew, I'm family. I'm the little sister or the big sister, and even if I spend the next ten years cleaning windows, I'll clean them." Finally she turns to him, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe I should have just lied and told you I like cars."

"You can tell me anything," he decides in that moment. Hell, she almost always does. He knows her opinions and thoughts on a whole slew of things by now, simply by sharing close quarters. But when he tells her this, he hopes she understands what he's really saying. He finds himself wanting to be someone she can trust, someone who can be relied on. Nino's not used to being that person for anyone.

"Kei-chan will always be my number one," she answers him, getting up and heading to the kitchen to rinse out her coffee mug. "But if I have any secrets to spill or confessions to set free, I'll be happy for a back-up."

"And Aiba-san?"

He hears the kitchen faucet turn on. "Aiba-san thinks I like cars."


	8. CDG

**CDG**

It was buy one, get one free at the pet superstore off the highway on the road to Gunma, Keiko explained. Sho's grandmother, pushing 90 and still going strong, lives out in the country there, and the couple had just returned from a visit. One "Kitty Kondo" for Keiko's new cat, Pom Pom, and of course one "Kitty Kondo" for Kenji.

They've been putting it off a few days now, the construction project. The box itself is massive, and he's not sure how Keiko and Sho got not just one but two into his car. Somehow Nino imagines Keiko leaving Sho behind with his grandma and hauling the boxes to Tokyo herself, picking him up later when she remembered to. Nino decides not to voice this opinion aloud as he has found that he likes Keiko a great deal and is only amused rather than turned off by her extreme kitty love.

Kenji has been a very curious fellow as long as the box has sat unopened in the living room. He has sniffed it from end to end, nibbling a bit at the seemingly tasty cardboard corners. Aiba has promised to help them put the Kitty Kondo together on his return from Los Angeles. He will be jet-lagged and incoherent within a few hours of his return, Nino is sure of it, but at least it's another set of hands for the opening construction kick-off.

What Nino and Shihori don't expect, sitting around watching TV that night, is for Aiba to return with a friend. Aiba's companion is of a height with him, though not as lanky. Instead the new guy is broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, and big-faced. Large eyes, thick eyebrows, strong bone structure. He's not looking too happy either, but Nino knows that Aiba is a persuasive person and this guy was probably caught in an Aiba trap.

Aiba, arm around his friend's shoulder, introduces him as Matsumoto Jun, another cabin attendant at Japan Airlines. "The only other male in my training group," Aiba explains. Apparently they go way back, probably bonding over their endangered species status in a sea of pretty women. Matsumoto Jun greets Nino and Shihori with none of the Aiba enthusiasm, looking so serious Nino tries not to laugh at his extremely polite "it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I didn't have time to call ahead," Aiba rambles on, dumping his bags in the space behind the couch. "But if it's not too much trouble, Jun-kun's going to be staying here tonight."

Nino and Shihori exchange a worried glance, although Nino sees Shihori's eyes shift away as soon as Matsumoto slips out of his outer jacket. He's still in his airline uniform - the same neat navy blue suit and the tie with the red and white diagonal stripes that they're so used to seeing on Aiba. It fits him well, Nino can admit it. It fits him even better than it does Aiba. Even after a long flight, Matsumoto Jun stands upright, perfectly polished. Shihori's sizing the poor guy up like a piece of meat, and Nino clears his throat.

"Welcome then," Nino says. "No trouble at all."

"I'm sorry to bother you," he continues, his voice a bit sharp, just like his face.

Matsumoto excuses himself to use the facilities, and Aiba leans close to whisper as soon as the door closes. "Just before he went on his last flight out, his girlfriend broke up with him. Now he's back, and he has to move out and find a new place, and he didn't want to go back there tonight and have it be weird...it really is okay for him to be here?"

Shihori frowns. "She dumped him before he headed off to work? That's cruel."

"Well, he works the Narita-CDG route," Aiba says, "He's gone as much as I am. It's not easy to find a good time for it."

"CDG?" Nino asks.

Aiba seems to think they've memorized all the airport codes like he has. "Charles de Gaulle. Paris. He flies Tokyo-Paris."

Nino sees Shihori visibly swoon at this, and he rolls his eyes. She's got her Onion King hookup. Now Nino's envisioning a laundry list of chocolates and croissants if this Matsumoto Jun becomes a regular fixture at the apartment.

"I'll make a place for him in the fourth bedroom," she says almost gleefully, heading for the linen cupboard in the laundry room. She pulls Matsumoto into the bedroom once she's gotten started, encouraging him to change and make himself at home. 

Aiba heads for his own room to change and eventually the two flight attendants lose some of their aura, emerging into the living room in t-shirts and casual pants. To Shihori's barely-contained delight, Matsumoto wears a thick pair of glasses when he's not on a plane. They reconvene in the room with the TV on, but there's an odd tension in the air. It's pretty clear that everyone knows the reason for Matsumoto being there, even if it probably wasn't Aiba's story to tell. So Matsumoto makes no effort to hide his obvious unhappiness. Nobody knows what to say to the guy, though, seeing as how only Aiba knows him, but Nino decides that if Matsumoto Jun is spending the night free of charge, it's best to put him to work until he passes out from a combination of exhaustion and breakup-induced depression.

Nino gets off the couch, thumps the Kitty Kondo box with his foot. "Aiba-shi promised we'd put this together for Kenji when he got home. Matsumoto-san, would you like to help?"

The guy is out of the leather chair with a quickness that nearly startles Nino. "Oh? What's this?"

Kenji, usually friendlier, hasn't shown much interest in Matsumoto Jun since his arrival and is perched on the TV stand, watching the four of them. His tail swishes lazily as Nino directs Matsumoto to the box, lets him have a look. "A former resident of this apartment believes that cat over there needs this."

"Kitty Kondo," Matsumoto says, reading the box. It's an elaborate thing they need to construct. It's not a "kondo" so much as an entire estate. It's a connecting series of slanted walkways and perches and nooks, some of it covered with the roughly-textured gray carpet similar to what's on one of Kenji's scratching posts. There are fluffy toys suspended from perches. The thing, once put together, will be a hideous blot on their already oddly appointed living room. Ugly cat area, giant TV, ugly couch, puffy chair, Nino's game cabinet, band posters.

Matsumoto's sitting cross-legged on the floor almost instantly, prying open the box and yanking out its contents. Despite being a stranger, a guest, and having just flown back from France, he starts issuing orders. Arrange these toys here, these walkways here, let's do a count and make sure nothing's missing. He finds the instruction manual and his already serious demeanor grows even more serious, if such a thing is possible. He's probably the lead member of his cabin crew.

Aiba passes out on the couch within an hour, snoring on his back with Kenji curled up comfortably at his feet. But Matsumoto is wired, seemingly thrilled to have something he can control. He's got the manual next to him and some grand architectural vision for the Kitty Kondo. Shihori follows his orders with the obedience of a servant, connecting Walkway 1-A to Perch 2-C according to Matsumoto's exact requirements. Nino sits back in the role of supplier, handing over various parts as Matsumoto calls out their names. "The dangling pink thing, Toy 12...no, not that pink thing, the other pink thing."

By midnight the Kitty Kondo is complete. Its future resident remains indifferent, hopping down from the couch for a quick munch in the kitchen, but it's Matsumoto Jun who is most pleased. It's the broken-hearted guy with the firm biceps barely concealed under his t-shirt that has achieved the greatest satisfaction tonight. Shihori even rewards him and the biceps she's been watching so closely by leaving the room to draw him a hot bath.

Nino gathers up the packaging mess, the spare bits of cardboard, the now empty box while Matsumoto takes out his cell phone, snaps a few photos of the thing he's put together for his friend's cat. It's the little victories, Nino knows, having been dumped on several occasions. It's being able to get something done even when you just want to get in bed and hide for a week. 

"How long were you together?" Nino asks, draping a blanket over Aiba on the couch.

"Three years," Matsumoto readily admits. "She wants to start a family. I want that too someday, but..."

"You're gone half the month."

"I'm gone half the month," he agrees. 

Nino doesn't really know what it's like to want a family of his own, to want to be responsible for a crying, pooping infant. Some days he wonders how he manages to take care of himself. But Matsumoto Jun, similar to him in age, does want that. He wants it so badly Nino can see it in the depressed set of his jaw, the obvious tension in his back. But wanting what he wants would mean giving up his job, and it's clear he's not yet ready to compromise there.

"How's Paris?"

Matsumoto allows himself a brief smile. "Amazing."


	9. Health and Wellness

**Health and Wellness**

Within a week, Matsumoto's moved into the empty bedroom next to Shihori. He has a lot of clothes for a person who is rarely home, but Aiba's managed to accumulate a lot of things himself over the years. Shihori is teetering on the edge of madness, having a sad and depressed but ridiculously handsome man sharing a wall with her now. Nino isn't teetering at all, thanking his lucky stars that he now gets to pay one-fourth of the rent owed and not one-third. No matter the circumstances that brought Matsumoto Jun to their door with the face of a kicked puppy, if it means monetary savings for Nino, he doesn't mind at all.

Matsumoto is very stern, very stiff, very well-mannered, and Nino knows it'll be a while before he gets used to the daily stupidity that occurs in the apartment. He comes home from the store, asks for a marker or pen to label his food in the refrigerator. He seems confused when Nino and Shihori laugh at him.

"We're not going to steal your organic quinoa and kale salad," Nino is embarrassed to explain.

Matsumoto has remarkable self-discipline. Aiba has a strange metabolism. He eats like a junior high school student, non-stop junk and tons of greasy stuff and days' worth of meat in one sitting. But nothing sticks to him, and he does the occasional jog or pick-up game of basketball with some friends from high school. Shihori has exercise DVDs that Nino isn't supposed to know about except when she forgets them in the DVD player. "What the hell is a Zumba?" Nino finds himself asking one morning, disc in hand, before she yanks it away and runs with it to her room. Nino's exercise is called his job at the warehouse.

But Matsumoto Jun blows them all out of the water. He has a strange thing called a "gym membership" and he actually uses it, disappearing at the crack of dawn on his days off and returning fresh-faced and probably firmer than before. He counts calories and shops at the expensive grocery store that never puts things on sale. He eats bananas constantly. Constantly. Matsumoto eats more bananas in a week than Nino has probably eaten in his life. One day Nino catches Shihori peeling a banana, and he knows the contagion may be spreading. The bags of Onion King that once sat on the kitchen counter, held closed with a plastic clip, seem to have been stashed away in her bedroom. 

The sudden health-consciousness wraps the apartment in a vise grip. Nino's eating instant yakisoba one off-day afternoon when Shihori suddenly plops herself down sideways on the couch, stretching her legs out so they lie across Nino's lap. He's stunned, holding the instant food container and chopsticks in hand as she squirms.

"Nino, do you think I have fat calves?" she asks. Shihori's in a knee-length skirt made of some soft jersey material, and her feet are bare, toes twinkling pink. He chews his food, obediently looking down at the lower legs now possessively perched across his thighs. He wills himself to contain the excitement her closeness is inspiring. 

"Is this a trick question?" he replies.

"No, she complains, leaning back on her elbows. This motion arches her back and pushes her chest up, her t-shirt stretching across her breasts in the best way. Nino usually goes for the back end before the front end when it comes to admiring the female form, but living with a woman of Shihori's shape has opened his eyes to the best of both worlds. It's impossible to ignore the perky swell of her chest. Her bottom gives off a similar impression. But that's neither here nor there, merely the thoughts of a man without a girlfriend living with a woman without a boyfriend. Nino would feel guilty, ogling her, but he knows that Aiba likes to look too. 

He finds, though, that he's never given much thought to her legs. His only points of comparison are the shins and calves that came before her, the girls he's been with previously. He's not sure at what point a woman determines them to be "fat" because he's known several women who have disliked various parts of themselves that Nino didn't at all. The magazines geared to women are kind of scary - slim down here, here, and here but make sure this stands out. It's confusing.

"From visual inspection," he says, holding his lunch aside. "They look okay." And they do. Nino's been with a few girls a little bigger than her and maybe more girls a little thinner than her, but she's still not an outlier on the chart.

"I think my ankles should be slimmer."

"Why?"

"I don't know," she admits. "Just the impression I get when I wear heels."

"Isn't this something Kei-chan can better weigh in on? Men don't think about these things so seriously."

This is the wrong thing to say because her legs are withdrawn, the warmth in his lap disappearing. In that instant, Nino wishes she'd put them back, that she'd let him touch and feel. He watches her poke at the back of her legs, watches her bend at the knee a few times, frowning. He shouldn't have mentioned Keiko, who is a little taller and thinner.

Her usually big, bright eyes seem a bit duller today. "I'm too lazy."

He digs into his lunch anew, not really wanting to go down this road. It's Matsumoto Jun's newness that is frustrating her more than any real disillusionment with herself. Before she never seemed to care much about how she looked at home, but now Nino can tell she's got on a bit more makeup and she leaves her hair down, letting it brush past her shoulders instead of tying it up in some messy ponytail. She's always been pretty, even in pajamas. He kind of wants to sock Jun-kun in the face, even if he's not aware of the psychological shifts his presence is inflicting.

"I find you well-proportioned," Nino tells her. "And I can't comment on laziness objectively."

"As a friend or as a man?"

"Hmm?"

She gets up from the couch, stretches. "Your opinion on my proportions. What perspective are you coming from?"

"Ah," he says, seeing her cheeks grow pink. "Definitely as a man."

She seems satisfied with this answer for now, but when he's in his room that night playing on his 3DS, he hears noise coming from the living room. One of her exercise DVDs, the sound lowered a bit and her feet shuffling across the floor. He pauses the game, sets the 3DS aside.

"Come on! You can do it!" one of the cheerful instructors is saying while some high-tempo Latin music plays.

He shuts his eyes, imagines her moving to the rhythm. Perspiration and determination on her face. He's not surprised when it leads to him pulling up his blanket, his hand slipping into his shorts. It's usually an AV star, an ex, an uncomplicated target. But tonight, for the first intentional time, it's Shihori, her back arched and her legs in his lap. Maybe he's known all along this was going to happen.

When he finishes, the music is still playing, her feet are still moving, and he stares at the ceiling knowing that the bridge behind him has crumbled and there's no going back.


	10. Too Soon

**Too Soon**

It's apparently a horrible thing that Nino has never ridden the ferris wheel at Kasai Rinkai Park. Especially now that he's here in Edogawa and the park's maybe a 30 minute walk, give or take, depending on street lights. Shihori floats the idea at the bar one night. They've made sure to hold another meet and greet so Jun can be properly introduced to Oh-chan, Keiko, and Sho, the extension of the apartment family. He's a big hit, especially because his serious demeanor lets Sho off the hook as the member of the group with the least sense of humor about himself.

Keiko will be off on a business trip that'll take her to Fukuoka for the better part of a week. Sho, who doesn't like to be cooped up at home alone, takes Shihori's side and wants to plan an entire day at Kasai Rinkai. Oh-chan begs off with work and Aiba too, and suddenly it becomes a strange grouping of Shihori, Nino, Sho, and newbie Jun, who had tried to gather interest in a visit to DisneySea, but nobody has the money right now. Nino would have declined the invite too, but a mixture of Shihori's insistence and the thought of Shihori riding the ferris wheel with Jun have changed his mind.

He's not usually like this. He chalks it up to the early stages of realizing he's falling and falling fast.

Before Jun can volunteer, Shihori packs them a picnic lunch. Onigiri, a thermos of miso soup, a salad Shihori likes to make that has kimchi in it. Sho meets them at the park gate, itinerary called up on his phone. He's already bought tickets for the ferris wheel, leaving them a good hour for lunch. Nino's very happy to let Sho plan their day because it means less Nino has to do.

While they pull their picnic items from the backpack Jun's carrying, Sho explains the ferris wheel to Nino, as if he is from Mars and unfamiliar with the concept. Sho has stats about the wheel's size, about its creation, how it "takes 17 minutes to complete a full rotation, isn't that amazing?" Finally they shut him up with the fattest onigiri in the bunch. The poor guy seems lost without Keiko to tell him when he's talked enough for the day.

It's a beautiful clear day, and Jun's brought a fancy digital SLR camera with all the bells and whistles. On the walk to the ferris wheel they stop over and over again so he can take a picture of something. Jun only apologizes the first time for making them wait. The wheel itself is a massive thing, the largest in Japan, set in the middle of a grassy field. Nino quietly arranges it so Shihori's leading them into the queue and he's behind her so he can snag the seat beside her.

It's at this point that Sho informs them all he's a little scared of heights, so please don't rock the car. This pronouncement makes the previously polite and proper Matsumoto Jun crack a wicked smile. Great, a sadist. They hand in their tickets and prepare for an awkward 17 minutes. Nino's wish is granted, Shihori tugging on his sleeve so he plops down beside her. Sho slowly enters their car and sits down, looking straight ahead and taking deep breaths. Jun is last, camera whipped out and snapping every few seconds.

Nino really didn't have to worry about him, he's on another plane of existence entirely. As their car slowly starts to ascend, Jun is in the photo zone, capturing every miniscule bit of their climb. He turns around, adjusts his position on the seat, which makes Sho wince almost every time he moves. If Keiko was here, maybe she'd be doing the same thing. An uncomfortable Sho is, after all, rather adorable to watch.

Because it's so clear, they can see out over Tokyo Bay and get a good view of Disneyland in one direction, the SkyTree in another. Sho looks out but doesn't look down, his hands shaking a bit in his lap while Jun's camera makes its continuous noises. Nino's mouth goes dry when Shihori links her arm through his, points to different landmarks they can see from the car. It makes time slow to a crawl, how easily she clings to him, how her excitement seems to vibrate throughout the car and envelop them in it. If only they were alone.

"Hey, over here," Jun says, oblivious, pointing his huge lens at them. "Let's show Aiba-san we had a wonderful time without him."

Shihori laps up the attention, making Jun take several shots of her in various poses. The whole time she's still got their arms linked, but it's Jun she's posing for, Jun's eyes she's trying to meet through the lens. "I don't like that one, Aiba-kun won't be jealous of that one," she protests, angling them so they've got Disney behind them. "Get up, get up so you can get Disneyland."

Jun agrees, making Sho whine as he gets to his feet, intentionally rocking the car more than necessary. He looms over them, camera angled down so he can capture the theme park far below. Nino and Shihori look up, Nino tries to smile. "Say 'Disney'," Jun says.

"Disney!" Shihori says alone, smiling big and the camera beeps and the shutter sounds. The car's big enough for six and Jun sits down on Shihori's other side, going into his camera's review mode. This leaves Sho feeling vulnerable, and he scoots slightly more to the center of the car, shakily snapping a picture with his phone for Keiko. Nino feels Shihori's grip on him loosen and she leans the other way to look at Jun's pictures. Even in his nervousness, Sho somehow notices this, meets Nino's eyes. Realization hits Sho hard, and he gives Nino a sympathetic look.

The ferris wheel turns and the car starts to descend. Once they're off the thing, and Sho is once more on solid ground, he annoyingly decides to help Nino out. By the end of the day, Keiko is obviously going to know, and Nino doesn't even want to know what her reaction is going to be when she learns Nino is crushing on her best friend. 

"Matsumoto-san, how about the aquarium? I bet you can get some wonderful photos there." Jun, pleased by the thought of getting more pictures, goes on ahead with him, the two of them talking about nerdy things, Sho probably reciting aquarium factoids from the Internet from memory, Jun absorbing this information so he can feel more intelligent about the pictures he's taking. Two nerdy peas in a pod, Nino thinks, but he does owe this chance to Sho. Maybe he should be a little nicer to him from now on.

Nino's got their empty backpack from the picnic, plastic containers and bento boxes shuffling along inside as he and Shihori follow behind. "So what did you think of the ferris wheel, huh?" 

"Nice view."

"Nice view, he says," Shihori complains. "It was a _spectacular_ view. You don't get a clear view of everything like that every single day."

"I guess not. I'm usually not a ride person. It's a good thing we didn't go to DisneySea, I'd have been sitting alone waiting for you all day."

She turns and gasps. "You don't like rides? No roller coasters? No nothing?"

He shakes his head. "I don't like them at all."

"Not even the water rides?"

He considers this. "I'd rather not."

She looks almost heartbroken. "How do you live like this?"

"Quite easily, thanks."

"Oh Nino," she says, as though he's told her he's dying from an incurable disease, not that he's scared of roller coasters. They move to start catching up with Jun and Sho. "Well, if we do have a DisneySea day, we'll keep your feelings in mind."

"By not inviting me?"

She blushes. "That sounds awful. I couldn't do that..."

"Take Aiba-shi, take Kei-chan. Oh-chan would go if someone bought his ticket for him. Hey, why not take Jun-kun, he looks like the wild ride type of guy." Nino picks at his own scab. "Do a double date sometime. You, Kei-chan, Sho-kun, and him."

"Don't say things like that," Shihori chides him with an elbow to the side. "Don't say double date."

"Why not?"

She looks uncomfortable. "He was dating that woman for three years. It's too soon." They haven't learned too much about Jun's former beloved besides her name (Yuko) and that she was older than him, which probably explains her desire to start a family and her lack of interest in waiting.

"When will it not be too soon?"

She hasn't been looking at him for some time, their footsteps heavy on the cement path as they see Jun and Sho get closer to the aquarium. "Why does it matter to you?"

"It doesn't." He shrugs and his lie tastes bitter. "Just making conversation."

"I see."

When they catch up, Sho looks to him hopefully, as if walking ahead for ten minutes makes him some kind of matchmaker. Nino merely shakes his head, sees Sho's disappointment. Jun and his camera take the aquarium by storm, and Shihori follows him. Sho tries to get his head wrapped around all that's happening, and Nino shuts him down every time, distracting him by asking about the fish in the tanks and letting Sho run his mouth about them instead.

The day ends around sunset. Jun's off to Paris tomorrow, and he likes to turn in early. Sho catches a train, and it's the three of them on foot back to the apartment. "What's the flight number?" Shihori asks Jun while they're waiting for a green light.

"415," Jun replies. "Why?"

She's got her phone out, playing with her airline app. "I'm going to track you."

"That sounds scary," Jun tells her. "You mean you're tracking the flight?"

"Now that you're living with us, it seems wrong not to. I track Aiba-kun's flights all the time, see?" She shoves the phone at him. Nino knows it's got Aiba's usual routes saved in there. She always tracks it, but Nino doesn't think Aiba knows that she does. It's her way of caring for him without him knowing. But she's gone ahead and let the cat out of the bag. 

"Thank you," Jun says politely.

"I just...I'd like to know you're okay, that's all."

Jun gets really quiet, only nodding. They get their green light and cross the street, halfway home. They don't talk much the rest of the way, and Jun's already gone when they wake up the next morning. But on the table, there's a notecard with "Kanjiya-san" neatly printed and Jun's handwritten his schedule for the next month - every date, every time, every flight number.


	11. End of an Era

**End of an Era**

Aiba Masaki is waiting in the south employee entry hall of the Funabashi Rakuten Fulfillment Center one hot July evening. Nino's just cleared through for the night, scanning out and going through the metal detector to ensure his employers that he's not a thief. 

Nino gapes at the unfamiliar shape of Aiba in this place. How did he even know how to get here? He gets lost without the GPS in his car. "Did someone die?"

Aiba's worried expression certainly gives off that impression, but he shakes his head, tugging Nino by the elbow and dragging him over to the vending machines while his other co-workers pass by in equal confusion. This is most likely because Aiba is here in his uniform and is pulling his wheeled suitcase with him. Who the hell let him in?

"Nino, something's happened."

"Spit it out," he says, panicking that Shihori or Jun or another of their friends might be hurt.

Aiba's shaky hands squeeze Nino's shoulders. "I can't...I can't go home."

Nino narrows his eyes. "Huh?"

"They've been discontinued, Onion King. The United States stopped making them two months ago," he admits, sweating from the heat and his layers of clothes as well as from his distress.

"Wait, what?"

"Shii-chan's chips," Aiba explains, rolling his eyes as though Nino's an imbecile. "I hadn't told her because I thought I had another way of getting them. They weren't getting pulled from the shelves, not until this week, so my friend in Los Angeles had been storing them at her house. But now they're gone and she hasn't found another supplier."

Nino is smart enough to know that Aiba's "friend" in Los Angeles is actually his girlfriend, a half-Japanese girl named Becky who works for American Airlines in the LAX terminal. What female "friend" would let a guy like him crash at her house every time he's in town? Sometimes Aiba has his laptop in the living room, and the girl's picture (in her bra and panties, no less) is his wallpaper. Nino has slammed down the lid to protect the girl's privacy on a few occasions, but either way, that doesn't matter because there's no more Onion King and all hell is about to break loose.

"They haven't made them in two months, and you said nothing?"

"I told you, I thought I had another supplier."

It sounds like they're talking about drugs, so Nino yanks Aiba's suitcase from him and heads out the door. Luckily enough Aiba had parked his car at Narita that week instead of taking the train and has driven to Funabashi to get him. Clearly he hasn't been home yet, and he's too frightened to confront Shihori alone. He's driven here to snag Nino in hopes of having someone else in the apartment to keep him from being murdered.

"You can't just show up at my work, that's weird," Nino tells him.

"Why?"

"Because it is," Nino says, even as he relishes the chance to save on train fare and get a free ride home. Work life and home life are separate. "Don't come here again."

"Whatever."

They drive in silence for a little while, navigating through the evening traffic. When they get closer to home, Aiba seems to be taking the long way on purpose. Nino sighs. "You have to tell her."

"I know."

"Face her like a man. She'll respect you for that."

"Before she drowns me in the bath tonight."

"She isn't going to drown you," Nino says, grinning. "She's not strong enough for that."

"Nino, shut up!" Aiba whines, smacking the steering wheel. "Ahhh, what am I going to do?"

"Park the fucking car. You just passed the garage, dumb ass."

"Ahhh," his friend whines again, taking them at least six blocks out of the way before turning around again. Nino tries his best to keep his chuckling at bay, but it's very difficult when Aiba's so nervous he looks like someone on the way to their execution. All because of a bag of stinky, nasty potato chips.

They park and make the walk back to the apartment. Jun will be back tomorrow. Maybe he'll bring back some croissants or something to ease Shihori's rage. Nino considers sending him an email, but for now, they've got Shihori to contend with.

As they always do, Nino's feet hurt as he takes the stairs up one at a time, but Aiba's walk up to the apartment is even slower. Nino snorts, unlocking the door. "We're home."

"Welcome home!" It's Kenji they see first, his head peering around the corner before Shihori's there in the hallway, watching him and Aiba take off their shoes.

Aiba says nothing, trying his best to hide behind Nino, but he's a larger guy, like an elephant hiding behind a tree. Nino figures it's best to get it over with now. "Aiba-shi has something to say. You might want to sit down."

"Did someone die?" Shihori asks, gasping.

Nino has to cover his mouth, scampering around her to hide. He sneaks into his room and closes the door just in time to hear Shihori's inhuman howl of rage. Again, they're quite fortunate that the dental office downstairs closes at 6 PM. Over the next few minutes he hears several unladylike words come from her followed by many repetitions of "two months?!" and "why did you wait until they were all gone?"

As Nino suspected, it's this breach of trust that enrages Shihori almost as much as the end of Onion King. Had Aiba simply told her upfront about the issue, perhaps she'd have had time to mourn properly, to find a new snack to love. It's bad enough she's feeling guilty eating anything at all when Jun's filled his section of the fridge with bizarre vegetable juices and low-sodium everything. Now the poor girl's been cut off abruptly, and Nino knows the feeling. He quit smoking cold turkey a year and a half ago, and the struggle was painful. His ability to meet his quotas at work, to walk miles without wanting to keel over and die, however, has greatly improved. 

Shihori's bedroom door slams dramatically, and soon after, Aiba's door opens and closes quietly. Nino goes to his own door and peers out. Kenji has taken up residence on the couch, looking so satisfied Nino's half-convinced the damn cat shut down the chip factory. He snickers to himself, pulling out his phone and firing off a warning email to Jun, apprising him of the situation and letting him know that he's coming home to a cold war in progress. The email he gets back is unexpectedly full of cute emoji that doesn't fit Jun's stoic image.

"I've got it covered," it says amongst the little laughing faces and peace signs and fireworks.

The Onion King fiasco is downgraded to an "inconvenience" when an exhausted-looking Jun returns from Narita the next day, dead on his feet but bearing a large bag filled with fancy boxes of macarons in every color of the rainbow. Nino doesn't want to know how much it cost him, especially if he bought them at the airport before the flight. Shihori nearly knocks him down getting them away from him, pointedly ignoring Aiba while she eats them. Nino, having no French treats or American treats to offer, can only sit in the chair feeling like the odd man out.


	12. Typhoon

**Typhoon**

"The trains aren't running," Shihori is saying, setting up candles around the room while Nino follows her course with a lighter. "No, no, it's too dangerous to drive. No, we'll be fine here."

A typhoon, the first big one of the year, has knocked out the power, and Keiko is stupidly trying to talk Nino and Shihori into making their way across town to stay the night with her and Sho. 

"And what if _their_ power goes out?" Nino asks, lighting another candle.

"Yeah," Shihori says. "What if your power goes out, huh? And I am not carrying the cat with us, no way. You're just using the storm as an excuse for a cat play date. How low can you sink, honestly?"

Keiko is obviously arguing her case on the other end, but Nino is pretty certain he and Shihori will make it through. They've got candles, they're keeping the refrigerator and freezer closed, they'll survive. Jun's stuck at the airport until it passes, and he's been messaging them back and forth for a while but has just stopped so he can charge his phone. Aiba left yesterday and is in sunny California probably having sex without a second thought for his suffering roommates.

The thunder and lightning have sent Kenji fleeing. The last Nino saw him, he was dashing underneath his bed. That Kenji's favorite room is Nino's says a lot about the recent tension in the apartment. Between Shihori's Onion King rage, Aiba's desperate attempts to avoid making her angrier, and Jun's tendency to close his bedroom door when he's gone, Kenji has chosen wisely. Although his occasional furballs have not earned him much favor with Nino in recent days.

Once Shihori's phone call is up, the cat's absence leaves the two of them to sit in the living room alone, surrounded by a bunch of scented candles that cast shadows on the massive Kitty Kondo. The combinations of fruity and sweet and pine are kind of disgusting, so perhaps they could do a little more emergency planning for the next power outage. For now, they're stuck with the smells, sitting side by side on the couch. Nino's got his 3DS with at least a few hours more of battery life. For lack of anything else to do because her phone is dying, Shihori seems content to just sit beside him and listen to the beeps and boops from his game.

"What did you want to be when you grew up?"

He smiles at his game. "Starting this kind of talk already? Alright. A baseball player."

"I wanted to be a mangaka," she replies. "I had great ideas."

"Can you draw?"

"Not at all. I'm horrible!" He hears her sigh, leaning back against the cushions with her feet propped up on the table. "It was a short-lived dream."

"You know who can draw? Oh-chan."

"No way."

"No, seriously," he says, his progress in the game starting to slow. "He was in the art club in high school. He was really, really good. He drew a picture of me once, but my head was on a dog's body."

She snorts at that. "What? Why?"

"He thought I looked like a dog. He was a really bizarre senpai to have."

There's a comfortable silence, and his characters advance through the cave dungeon. Eventually she speaks up again.

"Were you waiting for me to say 'No Nino, you don't look like a dog' or something?"

Nino grins. "I wasn't, but if those are your true feelings..."

"Ah, they are. Dogs are cuter."

This gets a heartfelt laugh out of him, and he reaches out a hand to give her a little shove. "I'm going by Keiko and Sho-chan's place. I'll receive better treatment there."

"Yeah yeah," she says back, chuckling at him and returning the shove. He relishes the warm press of her hand to his shoulder, however brief it is. This is his life now, waiting for little moments to crop up, for her to find any excuse to tease him, to touch him. He's usually more aggressive when he likes someone, usually much more straightforward. Usually he doesn't have competition living under the same roof.

If Jun has feelings for Shihori, even after only being here a couple months, he hasn't shown it. A three year relationship takes time to get over, and Jun never really talks about it. When he goes out to meet friends, it always seems like he's meeting up with guys for some drinks. If he has one night stands with women in Paris, he's certainly not telling them about it. Jun's very private. Not closed off or anything, but he seems to prefer that some things remain a mystery. 

Shihori dotes on him in a way she never bothers to with Nino or Aiba. Sometimes she even does his laundry for him. Maybe it's because he's so different. Aiba is an open book, the type of person comfortable enough to fart when they're in the room with him and brag about it. And Nino believes he's pretty honest and open. Not to an Aiba level because Aiba is a complete anomaly when it comes to human existence, but Nino doesn't have many secrets besides the feelings he's hiding for his female roommate. Compared to the two of them, Matsumoto Jun is that cool, handsome guy, the hero in the manga who just needs someone to love him. And Shihori, despite her age, still reads a lot of manga like that.

But as much as Nino wants to let his jealousy turn him against Jun, he can't. Jun is private and quiet, but Jun is also a very sweet, kind person. Nino has caught him on multiple occasions talking to Kenji, a thirty year old man curled up on the floor beside the Kitty Kondo trying to befriend him, but the cat is still not a big fan. Jun leaves thoughtful comments on Sho's blog and has even submitted guest reviews of some ramen shops in Paris. He can talk baseball, he can talk old school Mario, he gives Shihori guest passes to his gym. Sometimes he's blunt or speaks without thinking, but he kicks himself about it later. And he cries during movies, those huge brown eyes of his filling up with tears during an apartment-wide viewing of some movie with a heartwarming ending a week earlier.

It's impossible not to like him in some way, so Nino gets it. He really does get it. Shihori would be silly not to fall for him. There's no harm in it when they're both single, and nobody's told her what Nino feels. Sho and Keiko know, and Nino thinks Aiba suspects something. He knows what he feels, but Nino just isn't sure he's ready for a commitment. Because that's what it would mean with Shihori. They live together already, so he can't just stop by for sex and leave. Their lives are too entwined now, and Nino's made friends with her friends. If it went sour, if he didn't treat her right, he'd lose almost everything. It's scary, really scary to think about. He can only distract himself with fantasies momentarily before reality sets in.

Shihori's phone vibrates. "Jun's flight is delayed another six hours, he's going to sleep. Hmm," she says, "I guess they've got places for that when you work for the airline."

"Sucks," Nino replies. "I hardly ever fly, and I hate delays. I can't imagine flying for a living and dealing with it."

"Me neither," she says. "And the passengers are going to be so cranky when they finally do leave. I couldn't be patient with them."

"Maybe that's why Jun-kun's always so grouchy. He uses up all his politeness in the air."

"He's not that grouchy," Shihori complains. "Compared to you."

"Me? When am I grouchy? I'm extremely pleasant."

She's laughing at him now. "What? How about every morning when your lazy carcass comes stumbling out of the bedroom? Or when you come home from work and lie face down on the living room floor?"

"I don't do that," he lies.

"You seem to have a very inflated opinion of yourself, Nino."

"The most important person in my life is me, so of course I do..."

She's near hysterical, muffling her laugh against the sleeve of his t-shirt. Somehow during this conversation she's leaned close, rested her head against his shoulder while he plays his game. Now he decides that if she's gone ahead and felt comfortable enough to do that, she won't mind when he lifts his arm and wraps it around her shoulder, even if it brings the challenge of resting his game in his lap and playing one handed. Turns out she doesn't mind, and she only snuggles closer to him, smearing her finger against the game screen.

"Who's that?"

"Nino."

She's so warm, and without the aircon running it's rather humid in the apartment. He hopes that he's not too stinky from sweat. Living with three men must have gotten her used to all sorts of smells by now. "You named your character after yourself?"

"Wouldn't you? You clock more than 70 hours on a game and you wouldn't make yourself the hero?"

"The main character is usually a boy."

"Shihori can be a very manly name."

She punches him in the thigh and lets him keep playing, only asking sporadic questions about the plot, the characters, his battle strategies. The whole time she doesn't move away, seems content to be so close even in the heat. The rain pings against the windowpanes, the wind blows, and the eye of the typhoon's probably across Chiba and out in the ocean already. He pauses the game to get up and pee, but sees that she's fallen asleep despite the lingering storm.

He sets his game aside. Maybe she likes Jun, maybe she doesn't. Or maybe she likes him but doesn't want to get tangled up in a rebound. But what does she think about Nino? Sometimes she sits next to Aiba this way, poking at him while they watch a movie, but it means nothing since Shihori doesn't like him that way and Aiba's otherwise spoken for. So maybe she thinks of Nino the same way? 

Does it matter?

He strokes her hair. "Hey. Come on, Shii-chan."

"Mmm," she mumbles.

"I need to pee."

"Alright."

When he gets back from the bathroom, she's still where he left her. He blows out the candles and pulls her up, an arm around her waist. She seems to have no problems with this, and when he opens her bedroom door, she doesn't let him go. He hasn't been in her room much at all, and in the dark, everything's unfamiliar until his knees hit the mattress. He hears the bed shift and creak as she climbs in, shoving the sheets aside. 

"I'll see you in the morning."

"No."

"No?" he whispers. "You planning to die in your sleep?"

"No, come here." 

Not one to turn down an invitation like this from a woman, he obediently gets into the bed with her. The sheets smell different, a different laundry detergent. It's nice. She has a full-size bed, but even with the space for both, she stays close, encouraging him to spoon up behind her, an arm around her. 

Maybe she doesn't like Jun after all.

It wouldn't take much effort to find out, to confirm it. All he has to do is move his hand up under her shirt or down into her pajama bottoms. He imagines each scenario easily, the noises and moans she might make. He imagines getting her on her back, discovering how it feels to be inside her, wanting to know what she sounds like when she comes. He does none of these things, of course, keeping his hand around her middle and listening to her fall back asleep.

She wakes first, and he thinks he feels her fingers stroking his face, poking at the mole on his chin. When he wakes for good, the power's back on and a note on the kitchen table says she's out shopping with Keiko.

There's an almost angry email from Keiko waiting for him later that afternoon. 

"What's taking you so long?"


	13. Fried and Greasy

**Fried and Greasy**

A triumphant scream comes from Shihori's bedroom, and Jun looks up from the magazine he's reading with an embarrassed look. He turns to look at Nino. "She didn't...she didn't just..."

Nino chuckles, seeing her come running out of her room, fully clothed and clearly not having gotten off in the next room over when they're both sitting here eating breakfast. It turns out Matsumoto Jun is more perverted than he looks. "She's too classy for that, Jun-kun."

"Too classy for what?" Shihori asks, nearly vibrating in happiness.

Jun turns scarlet. Nino waves his hand. "Nothing, it's nothing. Why are you screaming?"

"I've found them!" she says, clapping her hands. "Onion King."

"Your chips? I thought they were taken off the shelves," Jun says.

"I know," she replies, clearly about to launch into one of her patented Onion King excitement dances. "But there's a guy who imported them, cases of them, right after the announcement. He has the largest stash in Japan!"

"Someone imported potato chips?" Jun continues. The whole thing confuses him. He'd tried one before and nearly puked from the taste of them. He's clearly remembering them now and looking ill again. As the summer continues right along, Jun has lost some of his initial thoughtfulness around them and has become fully immersed in their den of sarcasm and dumb situations.

"Right, he's up in Ibaraki. I told him I'd come up any time and buy some, and he said today is fine so I'm going!"

"Ibaraki?" Nino and Jun exclaim, almost as though she's said Mongolia or Madagascar.

"He might be a pervert though, so can one of you come with me?"

"We'll look stupid carrying bags of potato chips on the train," Nino says.

"Yeah yeah, I know," she replies dismissively, heading for Aiba's room. She emerges a moment later with a set of keys. "So we'll take Aiba's car. He won't mind so long as I put gas in it."

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Jun declares, a little Matsumoto honesty earning him a scornful glare from Shihori. She does not tolerate Onion King dismissal.

"Then stay home and eat some celery, you weirdo!" She turns to Nino with hope in her eyes. "Please Nino?"

"Why doesn't the guy just ship them here?" Jun continues, not caring what Shihori thinks. "He probably lures women in with the promise of chips and then cuts them up in his basement. Is that how you want to end up?"

Nino doesn't like the thought of Shihori going alone to some stranger's house either so he just nods. "Fine, I'll come."

"Thank you," she says overdramatically. 

By the time they're dressed decently enough to leave the apartment, however, Jun has changed his mind and decides to come along. He's a curious person at heart and probably wants to take a look at the chip guy for himself. Not many people can pass up such an opportunity, not really.

It's decided that Shihori will drive there and Nino will drive back. Jun declines, informing them that back when he and Aiba were in training together, he crashed Aiba's car into a toll booth one day. He's fairly certain Aiba would not like to find out that Jun has driven his car again. The good thing about this is that Jun pays for the gas to make up for it. They fuel up Aiba's car at the ENEOS station, informing the on-duty Ohno about their road trip.

"Chips huh?" he says, pumping gas and nodding thoughtfully. "Well I hope it all works out."

Shihori smiles. "Thank you, Oh-chan. Of all the men in my life, you are consistently the nicest."

He smiles back, turning a bit red. "Someone has to look out for you."

"Alright, alright, that's enough," Nino interrupts. "We're making sure she's not walking into a serial killer's trap, you know. We're not so bad."

"Right?" Jun chimes in, giving Ohno a stern look.

And then they're off, the address in Mito, Ibaraki programmed into both Aiba's car GPS as well as Jun's phone. Shihori looks ridiculously cute when she drives. When they got in the car, she swore and complained until she was able to get the driver's seat to move up so she could reach the pedals. And now she sits with her hands firmly on the steering wheel at 10:00 and 2:00, making little panicky grumbles whenever a truck passes her on the expressway.

It's the height of summer, and the air conditioning is raising goosebumps on Shihori's skin. Nino tries not to stare, tries not to see if her nipples are hard in her thin tank top, especially with Jun in the back seat saying extremely unsexy things like "you can go around that guy if you want, the other lane's clear." He tries instead to look out the window, tune Jun's yammering out, and listen to the radio station. 

It's just after lunch time when they arrive, pulling into the parking lot of a two-story apartment building that's seen better days. Half the flowers in the flower bed out front have wilted and died in the summer heat. "I knew it was going to be a shady neighborhood," Jun is muttering as Shihori parks. He gestures down the road to a vacant lot. "I bet that's where he buries the bodies."

"Oi, shut up!" Shihori complains, reaching in the back seat to wiggle her finger at him in warning. "Be quiet, don't ruin this for me! He'll raise his prices if he sees you scowling at him like a delinquent."

Jun is offended. " _I'm_ the one who's like a delinquent in this context? This guy is selling black market potato chips out of his apartment!"

Nino sighs. "Can we just do this already?"

The three of them get out of the car, and Shihori in her bright green sandals leads the way up the steps to an apartment in the middle of the corridor, threatening to kill them herself if either of them speaks out of turn during her "deal." Nino feels that he'll look back on this time fondly someday, but right now he feels like he's surrounded by insane people. Even one insane person he very much wants to sleep with.

Shihori rings the buzzer, and it's a few moments before a guy arrives to push it open. He seems a little confused to see three people, but he recovers quickly and smiles. Nino doesn't think he looks like a murderer. He's tall, decently built, with a cheerful face that has the same kind of lackadaisical innocence that Oh-chan has.

"Maruyama-san? I'm Kanjiya from this morning," Shihori says.

His smile gets a bit brighter, and Nino has to put his foot down hard on top of Jun's sneaker to keep him from conducting an interrogation of the poor guy. "Kanjiya-san, happy to help. I'm so thrilled to meet someone who understands."

Shihori introduces Nino and Jun as "the help," and the three of them enter Maruyama-san's apartment. Nino bites the inside of his cheek. Nearly every available surface in the tiny apartment, from the countertops to the TV stand to the bedroom floor, is covered with cardboard boxes, some of them open with individual-sized packets of Onion King spilling out.

Jun looks on the verge of hysterical laughter the entire time as Shihori and Maruyama-san gush about their love of Onion King, which nearly sets Nino off too. Maruyama even pulls up an American Onion King commercial from the 80's on his laptop and sings the song for her in a language that might be English or might be complete nonsense. Jun has to excuse himself to stand outside midway through the serenade. Finally Shihori agrees to buy ten of the boxes for an unbelievable 60000 yen, with each box containing 20 individual bags of Onion King. Together he and Jun pick the boxes up from Maruyama's bedroom floor ("it's been hard to watch TV lately, can you take from here first please?") while Shihori pays in cash.

"Please come again," Maruyama says, waving to them as they get everything loaded up. A few boxes have to sit in the back seat of Aiba's car with Jun. 

"Please come again," Nino mutters once they're back on the road after driving nearly two hours to get there. At least this time he can focus on the road and not on the breasts beside him. "By the time you finish all of those, the ones he has will have gone bad. Chips get stale."

"I know," Shihori admits, slipping out of her sandals and resting her feet on the dashboard. It makes her skirt ride up, pooling around her hips. If Nino looks with enough dedication, maybe he'll spy panties. He instead looks at the expressway while Jun's on his phone trying to find them a place to get off and stop for lunch. They opt for a rest area near Tsukuba, and the skirt goes back to its proper placement. 

It's mid-afternoon and the cafeteria area is nearly empty. They buy a sampling of croquettes and follow it with ice cream, and Jun must be in such a strange mood from the day's events that he doesn't even complain about what he's ingesting.

"So Maruyama-san," Nino asks the table, having a spoonful of ice cream. "Girlfriend situation."

Shihori elbows him. "He just saved my life, and you're criticizing. He was nice!"

"Virgin," Jun chimes in, and Nino nods in agreement. 

Shihori rolls her eyes at them. "The two of you, honestly."

"He lives alone in a place like that with boxes of potato chips," Jun says. "No woman is setting foot in there, period. You're a woman and I can't see you going for it."

Shihori continues to defend her Onion King supplier. "Well maybe he goes to love hotels. Maybe he doesn't take them home."

There's a middle-aged man and woman at another table giving them dirty looks, but it doesn't slow them down. "Okay, so I'll allow for a love hotel," Nino decides. "But what does he say to get her to go there with him? What's his pick-up line?"

"You're too much," Shihori complains.

Jun opts for a goofy Maruyama-san-like smile and looks deeply into Nino's eyes. "You look just like a potato, I'm in love." He jolts, having been kicked hard under the table by Shihori. "Ow! Damn it, that hurt!"

Nino snickers, looks back at Jun with what he hopes is equal longing. "Oh Maruyama-san," he says, aiming for an imitation of Shihori's voice. "Do you like them baked or mashed?"

Jun leans forward, licking his plastic ice cream spoon. "Kanjiya-san, I mostly prefer them fried and greasy."

Even Shihori has to cover her mouth to keep from laughing, and Nino lets out a near-squeal, his whole body shaking. "I'm going to leave you two here. Acting like a pair of kids," Shihori hisses as Nino and Jun are both turning red from trying not to disturb the entire cafeteria.

Shihori opts to sit in the back with her precious chips for the rest of the drive home while Nino and Jun sit up front and nearly drive one another to heart attacks play-acting the romantic encounter that will sadly never be between Maruyama-san and Shihori. When they exhaust their ideas about potatoes, they switch over to onions. She tries to look angry, but whenever Nino glances back in the rearview mirror she's smiling.

They get the boxes inside back at home, and Jun gets on a chair to stack them on top of the kitchen cabinets and on top of the refrigerator. She seems willing to space out the consumption of her purchases, going the rest of the day without eating any of the Onion King packets. Jun, more of a social butterfly than either of them, heads out to enjoy his evening off with plans to meet friends at some club. He bids farewell by calling Shihori a "hot potato" in English, closing the door behind him before the slipper she flings in his direction smacks him.

"You really are a hot potato though," Nino says, changing channels to watch a ball game. Aiba's team, the Lotte Marines, are getting their asses handed to them tonight, and Nino considers waking him up with an email but decides against it.

She sighs next to him on the couch, looking back at her manga. "Compliment not accepted."

"What'll you do when you run out again?"

He looks over, seeing her eyes glaze over. He fears losing her to the depths and sorrows of permanent Onion King withdrawal. "I don't know yet."

"Find a new snack maybe."

"Maybe."

"But nothing lasts forever, you know. We live in Japan, land of the limited edition everything. Surely you anticipated this."

She allows herself a sad smile, turning to look at him. "Thanks for coming along, all the same. I promise to make the most of the Onion King that remains to me in order to show my appreciation for what you and Jun-kun did for me."

"We acted out a scenario in the car in which you and Maruyama-san make love on top of a stinky mound of onion powder. Jun is much kinkier than he looks."

"Perhaps you should date," she suggests. "You'd make a cute couple, a love driven by roleplay."

He rolls his eyes and laughs. "Jun-kun's not my type."

"But I am, aren't I?"

This leaves him speechless for a moment. The announcers on TV are oblivious to Nino's sudden distress, describing the various merits of the relief pitcher the Golden Eagles have just brought in for the top of the 8th. He figured there'd eventually be some kind of confrontation, especially after the night she brought him to her bed and neither of them spoke of it again.

"Yeah, you are," he admits, knowing he can't take it back. That the dynamics in the apartment will change from this moment forward. It's a moment he's been dreading more than anticipating these last few weeks, expecting an apology or some vague allusion to Matsumoto Jun.

Instead Shihori looks thrilled, bringing the tips of her fingers to the inside of his elbow, dragging them down toward his wrist. Her eyes don't move away from his. He takes a deep breath when her fingers start the motion over again, back to his elbow and down. He should kiss her, lift that tank top and lose himself in every bit of her soft skin, but it's late and they both work tomorrow. And maybe it's enough for now that the secret's out, especially that it's out and she seems very receptive to it.

She squeezes his hand before picking up her manga and heading for her bedroom and closing the door, leaving him to watch the rest of the game remembering how to breathe.


	14. Playing to Win

**Playing To Win**

He likes Shihori, and apparently she likes him, but given how they've always worked, approaching the next level becomes a game of who will slip up first, who will give in. And it's a game they're both playing to win.

While Jun or Aiba are home, it's easy to keep the status quo. They spend the next two weeks in this holding pattern, making small talk, discussing what happened at work, complaining about expenses like a jump in the cable bill. But it's the height of August's miserable, sticky heat when four doesn't become three but four suddenly becomes two for a week-long stretch. If the flight attendants have intentionally scheduled themselves this way, Nino doesn't want to know about it.

He gets home on work nights just before 9:00, already exhausted from work and the walk from the station to the apartment leaving his clothes clinging to him. The apartment's aircon works overtime, even though it costs a ton, and it welcomes him in its icy embrace. On this week, the first week of Shihori and Nino alone with their feelings, he comes home to find her in a tight t-shirt and a pair of very short jean shorts, legs bent at the knee and feet propped on the table. There are little wedge things between her toes while she waits for a fresh coat of nail polish to dry. She smiles at the sight of him in the doorway. 

"Hi. Welcome home."

"Hi."

He ignores the stink of the polish, dumping his bag on the floor and running a hand through his hair. He needs a cut. It's gotten to a point one might describe as "floppy" or even "unkempt," and it sticks to the back of his neck when he walks at the warehouse and in the heat. "I need a shower."

"You usually do," she teases, wiggling her big toes. All he sees is legs from her not-fat ankles up to her not-fat calves up past her knees and her soft-looking thighs.

"Ha ha," he says, putting the water on colder than he likes once he's shut the bathroom door.

The next night she's doing her exercise DVD when he gets home, neon pink hand weights in her grasp as he enters the living room. She's mid-lunge, her hair tied back but little wisps of it teasing along her face. Her face is pink and glowing from exertion. Unlike previous occasions, she doesn't bolt at the first sign of someone catching her with one of the DVDs playing.

She's finished with it when he gets out of the shower, but she's holding a water bottle while she sits on the couch, watching a nature documentary. She spends the next twenty minutes sipping from it slowly or tapping the rim of it against her lower lip, rubbing it back in forth. It's a very long, miserable night in Nino's bedroom, and many tissues give their lives. He's pretty sure that he's going to lose this game, whatever it is.

The third night is a no-go because she's snacking on Onion King when he returns home. Satisfied that the compulsion to kiss her won't overwhelm the fear of the onion breath, he can go on the offensive. He brushes his teeth and goes to her bedroom without asking, making himself at home amongst the sheets. She eventually joins him, and even though he wakes the following morning with some of her hair in his mouth, they've managed to get through the night without sleepwalking their way into each other's pants.

But it's night four that dooms him. Even though he's tired, even though there's a cover charge and a two drink minimum, he's promised to check out Subaru's new band, and Shihori has asked to come along. Since moving out, Subaru has been traveling the country finding people to play with since his last group fell apart. Too many marriages and leaps into maturity to keep the rock and roll alive. He's a front man, a voice that needs instruments to best complement it. He's found a drummer and a guitarist, and they're playing some dive bar in Adachi.

Oh-chan's already drunk when they arrive, and he gives Shihori a hug that lasts a bit long. She doesn't seem to mind, giving him a kiss on the cheek when he finally lets go. "I've got us a table!" Oh-chan says, as loud as he'll ever get. Shihori gets some drink with an umbrella in it from the bar and Nino gets the cheapest shit that's on tap. The "table" Ohno has wrangled for them is next to the speakers, and they get through soundcheck and one drink before deciding to keep their eardrums in working order. Oh-chan will probably leave halfway through the set anyhow to smoke a joint in the bathroom with some girl that's way too young for him and won't be seen again until he surfaces at work the next day. 

Instead they stand in the back when Subaru and his two new pals take the stage. The bar straddles two neighborhoods, a working-class maze of apartments and a place where biker gangs were once notorious. That scene has probably died down a bit, but the bar still has an edge to it that makes Nino uncomfortable. Subaru writes his own music, but the set list is a mix of things Nino's heard from him before and covers of stuff that was popular in the 90s. The drummer's decent and the guitarist is incredible, but Subaru, now boasting stringy black hair and a Jesus beard, holds up his hands during a break in the music to let the crowd know they don't have a name yet and they're taking suggestions in an empty fishbowl on the bar.

He and Shihori spend the next three songs scribbling terrible names on cocktail napkins. Among them are "Naked Clowns," "Waseda University Jazz Band," "I Just Shit My Pants," "Subaru Fucked My Girlfriend," "Engorged Penis," and of course, "I Just Shit My Pants Again!" He almost writes "Onion King," but decides that's in poor taste if he ever wants to get laid. Nino almost wishes Aiba was here to lend them his particular brand of genius, but they wad up all the napkins and shove them into the fishbowl midway through the set, almost crying in laughter.

Now that the crowd's mostly met and exceeded the two drink minimum, Nino and Shihori included, the place starts to get rowdy. Most of the attendees are early-to-mid-20s, escaping the tedium and politeness of everyday existence to dance around or sway, sing along with the lyrics they recognize. Save for some track lighting by the bar, it's darker than some back alley Kabukicho club you find in gangster movies. The whole place is probably a fire hazard, days from being shut down. Subaru likes to pick places like these.

To keep people from bumping into them, Nino pulls them away from the bar, back against a wall near a broken electronic dartboard. Subaru and his nameless band get the crowd going, and Nino has his back to the wall and Shihori in front of him, hands clasped around her waist. Her hair's tied up and out of the way, and she's got this long silver chain on, a heart-shaped pendant that rests between her breasts. Nino takes advantage of the dark bar to nuzzle against the back of her neck, tongue slipping along the little chain links.

She's hot, her skin's so hot, and she grows fairly still, eventually cocking her head to the side so he can kiss from just behind her ear and down her neck. His hands slide down to her hips, and she doesn't make him stop when he moves kind of awkwardly against her, knowing she can feel and confirm that he wants her. Eventually she squeezes his hand and says "let's get out of here."

They split the cab fare home because she knows and puts up with how cheap he is, and when they're halfway up the steps to the apartment she loses a shoe and they sit down right there to share their first kiss. Their clothes smell like smoke from the bar and so does her hair, but that's not what Nino will remember later on. He'll just remember cradling her head in his hands, her fingers twisted in his t-shirt. Things get a little more serious, and she's kind enough to let him paw at her like he's drunker than he is, squeezing her through her bra, grasping her ponytail.

Eventually they're laughing, two adults making out on the stairs, sitting uncomfortably on the ugly orange carpet that runs up them. "Let's go inside already," she complains, getting up and retrieving her shoe. When they get inside and lock the door, he tries to pin her against it, to get right back to it, hands reaching down to lift at her skirt, but she's still laughing, turning her face away. "Calm down, the world's not ending tomorrow."

"We smell terrible," he reluctantly agrees, opting instead to press a kiss to her cheek and let her go.

She disappears into the bathroom for a while, emerging in nothing more than a towel because why not, he's already felt her up, and he cleans off the stink of the bar when she's finished. He finds her in her room running a comb through her hair.

"Do I get to sleep in here?" he asks. "I like your bed more than mine."

She rolls her eyes at him. "I don't have sex on the first date, Nino."

"Is it really a first date?" he wonders, leaning against her doorframe. "We've been living together so long and have probably skipped over so many important dating moments."

She sets the comb down. "I don't want a first time with you to be the same night I wrote down 'I Just Shit My Pants' on a cocktail napkin. I know what I'll remember ten years from now."

He crosses his arms, pretending to be offended. "I am much more memorable than a cocktail napkin. I can get you some references."

Shihori heads to her bed, turning it down for the night. "I don't want your references. I'll make up my own mind when the time comes, thank you." She pats the mattress next to her. "You can still share. I know Kenji prefers sleeping in your bed when you're not in it."

"That's a very Kitagawa thing to say."

She shakes her head. "Ugh, I know. We know who really rules this house, don't we?"

He makes sure the apartment's locked up for the night, and he joins her in bed, turning out the lamp. He doesn't press the issue, contents himself with kissing her every place she's willing to allow. He thought he'd be more nervous, that there'd be more hesitation on her end. He thought it would be a more complicated feeling, giving in and allowing himself to tangle their lives together. Instead he feels good, he feels perfect, discovering how she fits beside him.


	15. For Your Information

**For Your Information**

They tell Aiba and Jun because they have to tell Aiba and Jun. Aiba is jubilant, claiming to have been supportive from day one even though he has never openly spoken of it before. But he issues a stern warning for them not to have sex in his bed. It's a fair point, too. Of the four of them in the apartment, Aiba's mattress is the largest and nicest, something he'd gotten from a discount superstore in Saitama and managed to strap to the roof of his car and get all the way here. It's a precious thing to him. 

But, Nino and Shihori reason one night when they're a little tipsy and things are going in a handsy direction, it's not like Aiba ever uses it for sex with anyone but himself. His lady friend is on the other side of the ocean. If Aiba doesn't mind them borrowing his TV or his car...

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Shihori decides when they're alone in the living room, her hand exploring inside Nino's boxers for the first time and appearing to like what she finds. "I know I'd be freaked out if Aiba had sex in my bed."

Nino has no rebuttal in that moment because it's been so long and feels so good.

It's Jun's reaction he's more worried about anyhow. When Nino asks Shihori point blank if she's interested in Jun, she doesn't deny it. "He's carved out of marble," she says. "I mean, have you seen him with his shirt off?"

Nino has not. When peering down at his own body - smaller proportions, thinner hair, no muscle tone, nothing that could be described as carved marble - he worries he's not enough. He worries that he'll "do" for now, that if she had a shot with Jun that she'd drop him. Even if Nino could tolerate it, being non-exclusive, he doubts that Jun would be the type to share. So he'd have to yield in favor of what was best for everyone. But his worries are short-lived when Shihori whispers to him before bed one night.

She's curled up at his side, tracing along his jaw. "Jun-kun is pretty. He's nice to look at and he's sweet and caring. But I can't tell him everything. Not the way I can tell you."

"So it's brains over beauty in this instance?"

She chuckles, squirming around under the blanket when he squeezes her bottom, one of his favorite new discoveries. "If in your mind trust equals brains, then fine. Brains over beauty. But you're cute in your own obnoxious way."

He's close to patting himself on the back, settling instead for her closeness, the smell of her shampoo. "How long has it been then? Since you've decided I was worthy of you?"

"I don't remember the date, but I remember waking up one night to use the bathroom. You were still out in the living room playing games. When I was about to go back into my room, you called out to me. You said 'Good night, Shii-chan' in this tired voice without even looking up from your game, and I just..." She's clearly embarrassed, her voice getting quieter. "You knew I was there. Without even having to look. I guess I just felt safe."

"If someone broke into this apartment, I'd run the other way..."

"I don't mean safe in that way," she sighs, poking him in the chest. "I can't explain this that well when you've got a hand on my ass, either." He doesn't move it. "I just didn't want to wake up and not find you here. It's been a very long time since I've felt like that, about anyone."

He understands. There have been moments, dozens of scattered little moments over the past several months, that have convinced him too. Of the necessity of her, of what it means to unlock that door after a long day's work and hear her voice, be surrounded by her scent and her words, even when they're silly. It only scared him before because it's always scared him. Having a need rather than a want when it comes to the person he cares about. There's a permanence in that feeling that's always put him off, but he'd be stupid to throw it all away.

When they tell Jun, it's at the kitchen table. He's cooked for them from scratch, and Shihori starts the conversation by saying "If I'd known you could cook this well all along, Jun-kun, perhaps I wouldn't be saying this to you right now..."

Nino gives her a hard poke under the table with his toe, and she beams at him before Jun puts two and two together and laughs. "Congratulations," he says, looking pointedly at Nino. "And if you break her heart, I'm taking her side."

He scoffs at this. "No solidarity among men?"

Jun's smile gets even bigger, something he rarely shows them. "If I took your side, I think Keiko-san would murder me."

Shihori nods, sipping her tea. "Oh yes, nobody would be safe. Kei-chan is very protective of me." She gives Nino a wink. "And don't you forget it."

The fierce loyalty of female friendships has never been made more clear. Later, he and Shihori are doing the dishes, and she's handing him things to dry. "It wasn't so bad then, telling him," Shihori says quietly. Jun's in the bath, but she's keeping her voice down anyhow.

"Did you think it would be?"

"He's different from Aiba-chan. A little more sensitive. I didn't want him to be weirded out by living with a dating couple after everything he's gone through."

"Then we just need to find him a girlfriend too," Nino jokes, but she stops her washing and he realizes what he's done.

She's grinning like an idiot, deciding that everyone in their circle of friends needs to be paired up, needs a happily ever after. Not that Jun isn't deserving, but Nino doesn't like to interfere. It's too late now. 

After Jun leaves for work a few days later, plotting begins in earnest. Even overseas Aiba is roped in via email, a long chain of nothing chatter clogging up Nino's phone memory. Shihori and Aiba offering lame psychoanalysis of Jun's positives and negatives, Keiko offering a laundry list of single women she works with, Sho going off on tangents about various restaurants to organize a get-together. Nino's only contribution is a single email reply: "Jun-kun doesn't seem to have a type other than someone who isn't an idiot."

A decision is reached one night over Skype when Keiko is having one of her virtual playdates with Kenji. Shihori plops down with the cat in front of her laptop so Keiko can see him, and these sessions can go on for up to an hour while Keiko talks to Kenji and parades an unwilling Pom Pom around on her end. Sho is usually in the background of these sessions making faces behind Keiko's back that keep Nino from wanting to shoot himself.

It's in Pom Pom's high-pitched voice that Keiko reveals the plot. The cat is held in front of her, his little paws being moved as though he's giving a proper speech. "There's a girl in Mama's office! She's super perfect for Jun-kun!"

Sometimes Nino wonders if Keiko uses her Pom Pom voice in the bedroom with Sho. He hasn't dared to ask Shihori for fear that she'd actually know the answer. Nino prefers to keep these questions hypothetical.

"She's a little younger," the Pom Pom voice continues. Sho is sitting in the background eating from a bag of baby carrots and rolling his eyes. "But she's very cute, and she likes to run! And guess what, Mama saw her at lunch the other day. She's a vegetarian!"

While Jun isn't, this health consciousness seems very compatible. Even Nino has to concede that. Finally, thankfully, Pom Pom retires for the night, leaping off of Keiko's lap in a desperate move to get away. Keiko seems unaffected by the cat's flight, and she and Shihori move on to working out details of the Great Jun Plot. In a week's time there will be a triple date, and Jun will be introduced to Keiko's co-worker, Mizuhara-san. Apparently this will be happening whether he likes it or not - there seems to be no stopping these two women once they have a plan in mind.

Before Sho-kun can finally join the conversation in earnest, having compiled a list of restaurants that will suit Jun's tastes as well as the vegetarian Mizuhara's, Keiko signs off and closes her laptop. Shihori seems very pleased with herself, signing out and shutting off her computer for the night. She heads off for her bath with a grin on her face, and Nino finds himself admiring the Kitty Kondo. After many weeks of indifference, Kenji has taken to the thing with vigor, scratching the hell out of it and not bothering with any of his other toys. Jun's hard work has finally paid off. Maybe it's good that everyone's pitching in with the goal of making him happy in return, much as the Nino of only a year ago would have never agreed to participate.

Shihori finds him there, still staring at the silly cat contraption. She wraps her arms around his waist. "Aiba-kun is back tomorrow."

"He sure is."

He looks down and she looks up. He's been happy to go at her pace, but there seems to be an urgency in her eyes tonight. Nino doesn't quite know how any woman could be interested in having sex directly after a Skype session with a friend who creates cat voices, but then again, Shihori isn't just any woman.

They fulfill their promise to Aiba by not using his bed for their first time. There's a false start right there in front of the Kitty Kondo, but with Kenji's judgmental eyes shooting daggers from the couch, they retire instead to Shihori's room. He's nervous, she's self-conscious, and it's so mediocre that when it's over they're both laughing. In the morning they make up for it, and he discovers there's nothing much better than her legs around his middle and her smile of satisfaction when they get it right.


	16. Moving On/A Year In The Life

**Moving On/A Year In The Life**

Jun is scowling at his phone. "I'll kill him."

"Maybe we already passed it," Shihori says, trying to calm him down. "We could turn around."

"Why did he get to pick anyway? He's such a weirdo..."

Nino and Shihori are discovering that when faced with a blind date, the usually stoic Matsumoto Jun turns into a complete basketcase. Nothing has gone his way. They had planned to take Aiba's car, but it's at Narita. "That idiot," Jun had grumbled adorably. They missed the express train and had to take a packed local. It's a neighborhood all three aren't all that familiar with, north of Kichijoji Station, and they've been wandering in circles looking for some curry place Sho has decided upon, a recommendation from someone he went to school with who now teaches at Seikei University in the area.

It takes an angry phone call (Jun calling Sho 'Sensei' in the most condescending tone Nino has ever heard) and another ten minutes of walking before they get there, discovering that the place is located in the basement level of a building they had passed half an hour earlier. But as soon as the door opens, Jun's entire face changes, and Nino has to hide his laugh against the back of Shihori's head, pretending to kiss her.

The woman of the hour, one Mizuhara Kiko, is a fairly new employee at Keiko's firm, and refers to Keiko only as "Senpai" throughout the evening, something which Keiko seems to enjoy a great deal. She's taller than both of the other ladies at the table and is able to look Nino straight in the eye when they greet each other. Her hair's cut in a short bob style, and when she excuses herself briefly for a bathroom break, Keiko drops the bomb that Kiko-san is only twenty-three. Nino can see Jun doing the mental math, halfway between a grimace and a smirk at the realization that Kiko-san is a full ten years younger than his last girlfriend. She also did some modeling in college, which might explain her fancy clothes and equally fancy handbag despite her age.

But any misgivings and doubts disappear over the course of the evening. Kiko-san is a bit loud in a way that might annoy someone like Jun, but it seems like the months spent in their group's company has lessened his irritation about such things. Especially once Kiko begs him to tell her all about his exciting job and what it's like getting to stay in Paris so often. While Nino doesn't think passing out peanuts and closing overhead compartments is glamorous, Kiko-san hangs on every word. The pair of them even order the same thing off the menu, and Sho, who has spent most of the evening cowering in fear, finally gets his self-satisfied grin of meal planning success back.

Her smile is endearing, and the more Jun talks, the more the rest of them sit back, eat their food and let Jun come out of his shell. When Kiko-san laughs, Jun blushes at the attention. The transformation is really quite nice to see, Nino thinks, remembering the quiet Matsumoto Jun he met that one night who could only keep it together by putting together a cat play set in a strange apartment. This Jun has been here all along, the Jun that Shihori had her crush on. The Jun who is finally getting back in the game.

Upon their return to the apartment, Jun coolly reveals that Mizuhara has already given him her number. Nino rolls his eyes, remembering the Jun of mere hours earlier who had asked Nino in a panicky, whiny half-sob if he had any offensive looking nose hairs sticking out. 

"Do you mind it if Jun is off the market?" he whispers later that night, stroking Shihori's hair in the dark. "You'll have to dial down your admiration."

"Any woman is lucky to have him," she mumbles, letting him turn them so she's on her back and he's comfortably fitted between her legs. "Hey now, he's on the other side of the wall."

"And they're probably sending each other flirty texts, he won't even notice."

"He's not even ten feet away," she hisses. "You know the bed creaks."

But she's trembling and her body is responding positively. As soon as they're together, she stops complaining and instead holds him tight, moaning her encouragement quietly in his ear. Jun on the other side of the wall becomes an afterthought, and all Nino knows is her.

-

In the days and weeks that follow, spirits at the apartment are lifted all around even as the summer winds down and the nights become a bit cooler. Autumn hits, and the trees are aglow in fierce reds and burnt oranges. Jackets and coats re-emerge, sweaters return. The electric bill drops, and the sun goes away earlier and earlier. 

Jun starts bringing home macarons for Mizuhara instead, and Shihori doesn't complain. Their dates become more frequent until one night Jun doesn't come home, and Shihori drops everything to call and squeal about it with Keiko.

The supply of Onion King slowly dwindles until Aiba returns from Los Angeles one week with bags of Onion Prince, a knock-off brand being produced just over the Mexican border. A road trip with his girlfriend allowed for the discovery, and Shihori nearly breaks down in tears at the realization that the chips, brought across two international borders just for her, taste almost identical.

When Keiko is away one week on a business trip, a nervous Sho asks the group for advice at their favorite bar. Shihori nearly knocks the guy over with the force of her hug when Sho reveals his plan to ask Keiko to marry him at Christmas. It's Oh-chan who actually comes up with the best proposal idea. Most of Sho's ideas are over the top or cheesy and not suited for someone like Keiko at all. Oh-chan merely takes a sip of his beer and says "just sneak an engagement ring into the cat's Christmas stocking." Nobody at the table bats an eye at the mention of the cat having a Christmas stocking to begin with.

Nino continues to endure long days at Rakuten, watching co-workers drop like flies and get replaced in the blink of an eye. He walks ten to twelve miles a day, still scanning, still bending, still putting things into bins. But now when he gets home there's someone waiting for him with a smile and if he's lucky, with a smile and without her clothes on. Shihori has always been straightforward and blunt about what she wants, and Nino is thankful every day that what she wants is him. On his days off he'll start a futile game of Zelda, willingly getting a game over because she's pulled off her panties and climbed into his lap. He doesn't call it love, and she doesn't either. They're comfortable, they're happy, and that's enough of a definition for the time being.

When January comes, Nino marks a full year in the four-bedroom apartment above the dental office. He still has to fill orders for lube and dildos, Shihori still washes windshields. Aiba and Jun still fly around the world. Sho and Keiko's names will be the same come summer, but he still makes fun of her when she drinks and she still makes fun of him when he writes lengthy treatises about ramen broth. Oh-chan is personally thanked in the liner notes of Subaru's first album - turns out that Ohno's suggested band name, the extremely original 'Subaru BAND', was the best option in the fishbowl. 

A year, Nino thinks, has it only been a year? He comes home one night to a pointless argument about Dragon Ball. Kiko's in the kitchen with Jun, her hand slipped casually into his back pocket while he dices up vegetables for dinner and shouts his own complaints at Aiba concerning Piccolo. Shihori is sitting at her laptop ignoring the guys, holding Kenji up to the screen for Keiko to coo at. In the background, Sho is grading papers with a new pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Nino drops his bag and lies down on the floor, letting the shouting go in one ear and out the other while he waits for the meal to be ready. 

He wouldn't want it any other way.


End file.
